Broken Hearts
by LilithArtist
Summary: Luna, a child with power over the shadows, used to believe that she'll always live peacefully with her brother and friends. But when she is offered a chance to explore other worlds beyond her own and find her friends, her destiny unknowingly intertwines with the people she meets on the way. But something dark also comes her way, something that would affect her life forever...
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

**Hello, everyone!**

**In my opinion, Kingdom Hearts is one of the most awesome series. I thought it would be interesting to write the series with a difference.**

**And I made slight adjustments on a couple chapters to try and add more depth.**

**I do NOT own anything except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Prologue – Look after her for me

Someone's coming.

That was the first thing that crossed the mind of Eraqus as he looked up at the stained glass window looking over the room. His brows furrowed as he wondered who would be coming at this time of night, especially when everyone is asleep; he had just finished with training his two students, Terra and Aqua, and he is the only left awake right now. So, who is it that seeks his attention right now? He turned around to find a shadowy corridor form right in the middle of the room, and a cloaked human figure walked out of it carrying a tiny girl. It could be seen that it was a woman due to the slender shape and how thin her arms were, but her face couldn't be seen so easily because it was concealed under a hood bearing a thick, hard-to-see veil that shielded her eyes from direct eye contact; her entire body was hidden under a royal purple cloak that trailed even across the floor at the back.

"I didn't think I'd see you again, and so soon, madam," he said calmly.

The woman nodded somberly. "I could say the same to you, Eraqus. Tell me, is Terra training under your watch?"

"Yes, he is," Eraqus replied. "Is there something I need to know?"

The woman looked down to the sleeping child in her arms, and let out a sad sigh. "There is. A sinister force is stirring…something that would endanger her if she stayed with me for much longer." She paused. "I am sorry to inform you of this, but I must go into hiding. But I want to ask you a favor, as a friend."

Hesitantly, Eraqus approached the woman and looked upon the sleeping child in her arms. The little girl had light blonde hair curled like a doll, and she was wearing a simple, navy blue dress printed with a white crescent moon on the front; she also wore black leggings and short, red laced shoes. She obviously appeared to be peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of what was going on right now; most likely, the woman didn't want her to know of her intentions, and placed her into a magic-induced sleep beforehand.

However, what intrigued him most was the fact that the child had light in her heart, but there was also a distinct shadowy barrier guarding the light within. He knew about light and darkness, but there was something about her that made him wonder what is so different about her that she could be in potential danger.

"You noticed her heart, did you not?" the woman asked. "My little Luna is a Shadow Mage, like myself. However, she has yet to understand her powers, and I don't want her to be exploited by anyone who would want to seek her for selfish reasons. That is why I am asking you this: can I trust you with my daughter's care?"

When Eraqus looked at her face to face, he realized how serious she was about asking for his help; she was only thinking about the safety of her child. Any mother would in desperate times.

"On my life, I will do everything in my power to safeguard your daughter," Eraqus replied humbly as he took the girl into his arms, "I will look after her, and see to it that she is protected from the dark forces. My students will be able to support her as well. You have no need to worry any longer, I promise you."

The woman gave a small smile of relief as she heard this. "Thank you, my old friend. I am pleased to know that I can trust you." Then, her smile turned into a serious frown. "But be careful with your methods. After all, a child thinks differently compared to others, and one wrong move will cause you to lose sight of her and allow her to go anywhere without your knowledge. All the same, just don't raise your sword against her, for my sake."

With that, the woman disappeared into the shadowy corridor, leaving Eraqus alone with young Luna in his arms. As he was approaching the stairway towards the halls, he noticed from the corner of his eyes that he wasn't alone; in fact, he noticed that one of his students was standing by the wall very anxiously: Terra. He was still in his usual attire that he wore during his days of training, but he had his armor removed for the night.

"Master, I thought I sensed something here," Terra said coolly, "Who was it just now?"

Eraqus let out a deep sigh. "It was an old friend. She asked me to shelter her daughter here, and I swore to protect her." He turned to his pupil with intrigue. "Am I to presume you know this child, Terra?"

He nodded nervously as he looked at the sleeping child in his master's arms. "Yes. She is my sister, Luna." He looked up toward his master. "If she's here, then that can only mean our mother was here..."

But then, both of them saw the little girl stir and slowly woke up to notice the new environment around her. It was clear that she has come to realize that the person who was once with her was no longer around her. Then, she looked up to Terra with a confused look.

"...Big Brother? You're here." Luna looked around. "...Where's Mama? Where'd she go?"

Terra looked up toward his master with a questioning look, only to find him shake his head as though he was saying she shouldn't know the reason why yet. Whether it was because she was too young to know or it was to keep her from knowing the bigger picture was anyone's guess.

"I don't know, Luna. I hadn't seen her in years, and I haven't the faintest where she had gone," Terra confessed, which was true in a sense.

"In any case, I'm sure you're tired, Luna. We promise that we'll look after you thoroughly until she comes back," Eraqus promised her.

Though she initially wanted to protest, her yawn actually gave away how sleepy she was; this gave more than enough reason that she needs more rest before anything more could be done for her.

"Terra, would you mind taking her to your room for tonight? She'd probably be more comfortable around someone she's more familiar with at the start," Eraqus requested. "In time, we'll introduce her to everyone else. But for now, we can wait on it."

Terra nodded in agreement and began walking away with his sleeping sister held close to him protectively.

What nobody would ever suspect is that everyone - even the innocent child - has something more coming to them than anyone could ever imagine in all the worlds. But the question is: what will change them, and at what cost?


	2. Chapter 2 - Ch 1: Land of Departure

**And another chapter just for good measure...mostly to start up the good stuff. It was not simple trying to merge the story with my OC in the picture, but I pulled through! Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

**I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts, except my OCs.**

**Read and review, but no flames.**

Chapter 1 – Land of Departure; two years later

It was the night before the Mark of Mastery exam, but that wasn't the main thing on Luna's mind; the moment she saw a meteor shower in the sky, she just had to go see it before she goes back to sleep. Carefully, she snuck out of her bedroom, straightened out her cerulean blue nightgown, and ran through the halls leading to the main entrance door only to slam into another person who was heading towards a similar direction. After landing roughly onto the floor, she rubbed her hip and groaned as she struggled to recover from her fall.

"Oh! Sorry about that, Luna! What are you doing up this late?"

Four-year-old Luna smiled sheepishly as she looked up to see Ventus hovering over her. He was still wearing patterned capris and a lightly colored jacket over a small chest plate; on his left arm, he wore a checkered armband and a piece of shoulder armor, and he wore semi-metallic shoes on his feet.

"I was gonna see the meteor shower," Luna replied with a giggle.

Ventus smiled brightly when he heard that. "Well, let's hurry together. We don't want to miss it, don't we?"

"You bet, Ven!" Luna agreed.

She took Ventus's hand and the both of them ran out the door together towards the courtyard, anxious to catch the spectacular sight lest they miss it completely. On Luna's part, she was so caught up in her excitement that she didn't realize that Ventus stopped until she bumped into his leg. When she did, he couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, "I was thinking that I could spare some time to practice my skills. How about it? Let's see if we've got what it takes."

She turned to look toward the part of the summit where training rings were set up to practice for fighting when the need arose, and figured out exactly what her friend had in mind. The idea of showing off her powers was just the thing she needed.

"Okay!" Luna exclaimed eagerly. "I can show you some new tricks I learned!"

When Ventus made several hits on the idly chained ring, he demonstrated how far he has gotten with mastering his abilities with a keyblade; of course, Luna knew that he was under the watch of Master Eraqus, and he had bouts of sparring with his friends Terra and Aqua. Then, he made an attempt to hit the rings that began to twirl as if it were doing the impression of a moving enemy with mixed results because he sometimes had to chase after his intended target. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"You make chasing something around so hard," Luna pointed out while still laughing.

Ventus made a pouting face as he came back a bit exhausted. "C'mon, Luna, do you have to tease me? Let's see you do better."

Luna pulled a fake pout as she ran over to the rings. "Fine, then, I will! I'll show you what my hands can really do."

Much to Ven's surprise, she wasn't even kidding about what she can do. Every time Luna made a wave of her hand, a shadowy arm with three fingers emerged and struck against her intended target; in fact, she did this just enough to make the single ring spin around the pole. When she saw what her work did, she turned around and grinned at him with a 'top that, Ventus' smile that cannot go unnoticed by anyone.

Ventus sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright, you win this time, Luna." He shook his head. "But just because someone said you have power over shadows doesn't mean that you're better than us, you hear me?"

"But you're tough, too," Luna protested cheerfully, "Besides, Grandpa Eraqus wasn't the only person who showed me how to conjure those hand things and use 'em, you know."

Those words brought a bright smile on his face. "You're right. Now, c'mon, we're gonna miss it!"

"I'm coming!"

When they finally reached their destination, both Luna and Ventus were awestruck at the view of the showers across the sky; while Ven proceeded to lie down on his back, Luna was bouncing up and down in excitement as she watched each one fly an incredible distance. After a while, though, she calmed down and took a seat next to him, but she lay down on her stomach instead. She then looked over to him, seeing that he appeared to be lost in thought.

"What's wrong, Ven?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment before he answered. "Why does this seem so…familiar?"

She scratched her head in confusion. "What d'ya mean?"

"I don't know…" he replied.

Hearing Ventus talk like that reminded Luna of when she first heard about him arriving at the Land of Departure: she was only three when she heard from her older brother, Terra, about their master taking in another student, but when she heard about what happened to him after her brother tried to ask him questions, she was disappointed that she didn't get the chance to talk to him. She had to wait for several weeks until she developed the courage to even speak to him. It wasn't until one particular night that she finally got the chance to meet Ventus face-to-face, and when she did see him, he looked like he wasn't all there; so, she decided to show him something that she grows in the darker parts of the castle courtyard: the moonflowers. That was just enough to help her get a start on becoming friends with him, and it even managed to get him to ask questions about her, some of which she was able to answer fully.

But when Luna began to sit up on her knees, she spotted a blue-haired young woman from the corner of her eye and jumped in fright, nearly falling over in the process. Ventus was no exception; when he was about to lie down again, he saw her and jolted out of shock. The two of them turned around to face the unexpected visitor with wide eyes.

"Give us a break, Aqua!" Ven said in disbelief.

Aqua, another friend of Ventus and a big sister figure to Luna, chuckled at the sight of their stunned looks.

She wore a black and blue halter top with two pink belts across her chest, tan fingerless gloves and bell-shaped sleeves with bits of armor on them; from the waist down, she wore two strips of blue and white cloth around her hips, black shorts, and black stockings with pointed, silver armored boots on her feet.

"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead," she scolded gently, "You know you should've at least brought a blanket. And Luna, you should've been in bed earlier."

Luna immediately groaned when she heard that. Even though she always saw Aqua as a big sister figure, there were some times where she would scold her like any average mother would to their child; she never liked it, but deep down she knew that Aqua was just looking out for her because she's much younger than everyone else. In fact, there have been times where she did admire Aqua, and Luna enjoys being with her when the boys aren't around.

She turned to Ven, hoping that he would say something defensive, but instead he was lost in his own thoughts again.

"But did I really dream that place up?" he mused, "It really felt like I'd been there before…looking up at the stars…"

He was interrupted when Aqua gave his head a small rubbing, followed by another chuckle coming out of her.

"'Cept you've always lived here with us," she replied.

"And things would be boring without you," Luna added as she bounced a little.

That seemed to put him at ease. "Yeah…I know."

Then, the three of them walked over to the edge of the summit and took a seat together with Luna seated on Aqua's lap. At that moment, Luna noticed that Ven had a curious face on and asked an unexpected question.

"Hey, Luna, Aqua," he spoke up, "Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?"

Aqua thought about it a moment. "Hmm…well, they say…"

"That every star is another world."

All three of them turned around to see another friend has joined the group; Terra. He was dressed in a black, high-collared shirt with red straps intersecting his chest, and a tan hakama held by a dark grey obi sash and a belt. On his arms, he wore one black armband on his right and a fingerless glove with a black gauntlet and a shoulder armor piece on the left; on his feet, he wore dark brown and gold armored boots. But Luna knew him best because of his dark brown hair and slightly tanned skin, which was a big contrast to her straw-blonde hair and pale skin.

"Terra," Aqua beamed at his arrival.

"Big Brother!" Luna piped up as she escaped Aqua's lap and ran over to hug her older brother.

"Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own," he continued as he picked up his sister, "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."

Poor Ven was unable to comprehend what he was talking about. "What? I don't get it."

"What'd ya mean, Big Brother?" Luna asked.

"It means that they're just like you two."

"What does **that** mean?" Ven pressed his question.

"You'll find that out someday," Terra replied.

"I wanna know now."

"Me, too, Brother!" Luna agreed.

"You're both too young to know now," he argued.

"Quit treating us like kids!" Ventus exclaimed in dismay.

While the three were bickering with one another, Aqua began to giggle at them, causing all three to turn to her in confusion.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" Terra asked.

"I can't help it," she replied, "You boys would make the weirdest brothers."

"Huh?" both boys asked with baffled looks.

"Hey! I already have a brother," Luna shouted as she wrapped her little hands around Terra's neck, "and he's right here with me!"

Moments later, everyone had a pretty good laugh out of it, especially Luna. After that, the four of them continued to stick around and look at the sky for a while longer until Aqua got up and walked behind them.

"Oh, yeah, Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow," she recalled as she pulled out three star-shaped charms, "I made us good luck charms."

She threw each of the boys one of the charms; Terra got an orange charm while Ventus got the green charm, leaving Aqua with her blue charm.

"I get one, too?" Ven asked excitedly.

"Of course, one for each of us," Aqua replied. "Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit, and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other." She turned back around to face them. "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did the best with what I have."

"Oy, sometimes you are such a girl," Terra said bluntly.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" Aqua argued, slightly offended by that.

"Big Brother, you can't say that to your girlfriend!" Luna scolded, "She tried her best!"

Terra was immediately taken aback at this. "What…! Luna, w-what are you…?"

"So, these aren't really good luck charms?" Ven asked, interrupting the argument.

"Well, that's yet to be seen," Aqua replied as she approached them, "But I did work a little magic on it."

"Really? What?"

"An unbreakable connection," Aqua said as she held up her charm.

Luna was mesmerized when she listened to all of this; while the idea of a star-shaped fruit sounded rather mouthwatering to her, it was the notion of an unbreakable connection that fascinated her the most. She was pretty sure that she has one with her brother and his friends – at least, in her own way; but she was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a good luck charm for herself. To her, it would've been something nice to hold onto.

"Hey, we're heading back."

"Yeah. Me, too!"

Instantly, Luna lost her train of thoughts and realized that she, Terra, and Aqua were leaving the summit with Ventus right behind them. She almost forgot that her brother was going to have his Mark of Mastery exam tomorrow; how embarrassing is that?

"And you, Luna, need to go straight to bed," Terra added, directing it at her.

"Awww," Luna replied in disappointment.

"I'm sorry I didn't make another charm for you, Luna," Aqua apologized to her.

"That's fine. I can deal with it," Luna replied with a small smile.

But despite putting on a brave face for her blue-haired friend, she couldn't help but notice that Terra was looking elsewhere, almost thoughtfully at what she said. Each of them went their separate ways in the castle, leaving Luna to be carried to her bedroom by her brother; soon, she found herself set down on the bed, and Terra sat on the edge next to her.

"Are you really okay with not having a charm of your own?" he asked her.

"I'm okay with it, really," Luna insisted, "Those star things are special for you and your friends, you know."

"Then what if I told you I have something special for you?" he asked with a gentle smile on his face.

At first, Luna couldn't understand what he was talking about; but then he pulled out a small bauble out of his pocket and showed it to her. Immediately, Luna was in awe at its incredible beauty. It was a golden brooch holding a silvery purple stone in the middle, intricately designed almost as if the full moon was in the palm of one's hands.

"What is that? It's so pretty!" she gasped in amazement.

Terra smiled at her as he carefully clasped the brooch onto the top of her nightgown. "It's a brooch with your favorite gem, the moonstone. I handcrafted this myself in my spare time, and I found that stone during one of my walks on the summit. I figured that this would be more appealing to you. Do you like it?"

"Of course I like it!" Luna squeaked with ecstasy as she played with her gift. "This is WAY better than a good luck charm because this thing came from you, Big Brother. I'll treasure it always."

Her brother just chuckled at her words. "I'll take that as a compliment." He leaned in to kiss her forehead and tucked her bed. "Now, get some rest. You don't want to miss your brother's exam, would you?"

"No." Luna replied as sleep settled into her head. "Good night, Big Brother."

The last thing she could see was her older brother walking away and closing her bedroom door, until she finally fell asleep and began drifting into her own little world.

That would be the last night she ever spent with her brother and friends, beneath the same stars.


	3. Chapter 3 - Ch 2: Mark of Mastery

**And here it is: the very place where the adventure begins! I had a little trouble what I could do to get my OC to leave the Land of Departure; and then...what better way to do it than shady business? Anyways, hope you enjoy the story.**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts, except for my OC.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Chapter 2 – Mark of Mastery

"Luna! Luna, wake up!"

The moment she felt something shaking her awake, Luna slowly rubbed her eyes and looked over to her left to find Ventus hovering over her excitedly. At first, she couldn't figure out what he was getting restless about; but when she remembered that the Mark of Mastery exam was today, she felt like she hit a wall.

"Is it time for the exam already?" Luna asked anxiously.

"Not yet, but we'd better hurry," Ven replied while helping her up, "We don't want to miss seeing what Terra and Aqua can do, right?"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not missing this!"

As soon as Luna got out of bed, she immediately changed into an indigo blue laced dress with black tights and short red boots; around her head, she wore a black shawl, and she had her moonstone brooch fastened to the top part of her dress. Of course, given that she's a small child and she's still struggling to do things on her own, Ventus had to make sure that her clothes are straightened out before she goes anywhere.

But once she was ready, she and Ventus hurried down the halls to the training room where Terra and Aqua were preparing themselves for their examination until Master Eraqus arrived with another person following him; an elder man known as Master Xehanort. As far as Luna was concerned, Xehanort was a rather creepy old man, especially with the way he would look at everyone; it didn't help that he was even dressed like someone who would scream 'sinister, devious villain' all over him. On the other hand, she knew little to nothing about that man since she never met him personally. Because of this, she always made sure that she showed her distrust in any way she can.

Though, there was one moment where she did peek out from beside Ventus to see Master Xehanort eyeing Ventus like he's up to something, causing Ven to react and look away quickly. But when she did see the old man, she noticed that his gaze shifted from her friend down towards her; promptly, she hid herself behind Ventus.

"What's wrong?" Ventus whispered softly enough for her to hear.

"I don't like that man," Luna whispered back, "He's creepy."

As if in understanding, Ventus gave her a pat on the head, and Luna slowly returned to standing beside him. She looked back to where her brother and Aqua were standing, awaiting what their master had to say.

"Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one, but two of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates, but this neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy – not a test of wills, but a test of heart," Master Eraqus began to speak, "Both of you may prevail, or neither. But I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort, did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark." He turned toward Terra and Aqua. "I trust you are ready."

"Yes." They replied at once.

"Then let the examination begin," Eraqus said as he summoned his Keyblade.

From the sidelines, Luna watched as Master Eraqus used the power of his Keyblade to conjure several orbs of light in the middle of the room, prompting Terra and Aqua to brace themselves for their test. But unbeknownst to her and everyone else, Xehanort made a little wave of his hand and a dark aura would appear over the orbs, causing the glowing circles to move in to attack. While Terra and Aqua were preoccupied with their targets, one of the orbs began floating towards Ventus and Luna. Upon seeing this, both friends became worried.

"Ven!" they called, "Luna!"

Immediately, Ventus got in front of Luna, summoned his Wayward Wind Keyblade, and struck the orb with one hit.

"Don't worry about us," Ven called out to them, "You two focus on the exam!"

"But, Ven, you're both in danger here!" Aqua protested, "Go wait in your rooms."

"No way!" he insisted, "I've been looking forward to this – seeing you two become Masters. I'm not gonna miss it now!"

"Yeah, I wanna see Big Brother's work be worth it!" Luna added.

Thankfully, Terra got the message. "They can take care of themselves. He's been training as hard as us, and my sister can defend herself when she needs to."

Reluctantly, Aqua agreed on it. "Stay sharp, Ven. Luna, stay close to him, okay?"

"Okay, Aqua!" Luna called out.

While Terra and Aqua worked together to take out one group of orbs, Luna followed behind Ventus and helped him fight back the other groups. Everywhere she went, she summoned her Shadow Hands to smash the orbs that came her way and formed two arms as shields when an orb came too close for comfort. In the meantime, she had to keep an eye for the occasional light beams that the orbs shoot out in retaliation.

"Luna, look out!"

Quickly, Luna turned around to see a stray about to attack her from behind until Ventus immediately jumped in and hacked at the oncoming target until it dissipated. He turned to her with a light smile on his face.

"Remember what the master taught you?" he asked, "You have to watch your back as well as your front in the fray."

Luna gave a shy smile back at him. "Sorry, Ven. I forgot."

But within moments, she was distracted when saw that her brother was surrounded by three orbs ready to attack him. Instantly, she made a mad dash to try and help him out, but she tripped on her own feet and fell to the floor; however, out of nowhere, a shadowy hand emerged from behind, picked her up, and carried her over to Terra's position. Luna didn't waste any time summoning Shadow Hands that surrounded her in a spiral and made a sweeping strike that knocked most of them away. When Terra turned to face her, he did have a surprised look on his face at first; but then he smiled at her in approval since she saved him from serious trouble.

"Did you learn that move from Master Eraqus?" he asked.

"No, I figured it out myself," Luna replied, "I don't know how I did it, though."

Fortunately, with the four of them working together, all of the orbs of light had been completely demolished. After that, Luna went back to the sidelines with Ventus to see how Terra and Aqua are going to do from here on in, but not without glancing back at Master Eraqus and Xehanort (in fact, she could've sworn that she saw the creepy old man raising a puzzled eyebrow at her before looking away).

"That was unexpected, but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances," Eraqus spoke as things calmed down, "It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold; which brings us to your next trial."

Luna watched as Terra and Aqua took their positions as if to confront each other; even though she knows that this is only a test to know whether either of them can prove their mettle, she still has hopes that her brother will be able to make it after all his years of training.

"Now, Terra and Aqua, the two of you will face each other in combat," Eraqus continued, "Remember, there are no winners – only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed. Begin!"

Luna watched anxiously as Terra and Aqua started to clash keyblades with one another, with Terra demonstrating his strength and Aqua her grace. She couldn't help but wonder what's going to happen throughout this duel between them, and she's pretty sure that Ventus is thinking the exact same thing. During the fight, though, she could've sworn that she saw her older brother getting scared and his left arm had a dark aura flickering for a moment until he turned to focus on the fight. _My brother wouldn't let himself get scared just because Aqua is strong_, she thought; _but what was going on there just now?_ But her thoughts were interrupted when they finished their duel and took places in the center of the room, and Master Eraqus began to make the biggest decision about them.

"We have deliberated and reached a decision," he announced, "Terra, Aqua, you both performed commendably. However, only Aqua has shown the Mark of Mastery." Luna's face dropped into an upset frown at that, but the master continued to explain. "Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check. But there is always next time. That is all." He then turned to look at Aqua. "Aqua, as our newest Keyblade Master, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction."

When Master Eraqus left the room, Luna immediately ran over to her brother and hugged his leg with worry with Ventus behind her while Aqua turned around to face Terra with concern on her face as well.

"Terra, I'm sorry," Ventus apologized guiltily.

But Terra seemed lost in thought. "The darkness…where did it come from?" he asked himself.

As much as Luna wished she could answer that, she wasn't sure what to say. She tottered away from the group sadly, but then was diverted by the sight of Master Xehanort walking down the stairs. She wondered where he could be going, so she crept over to the edge of the stairway and peeked around to see him walking towards another person. The person appeared to be a boy, but was wearing weird body armor; she also couldn't see his face since he was looking elsewhere.

She could barely make out what's going on as she strained to listen to their conversation they were having out of everyone else's view.

"What do you make of Ventus?" Xehanort asked.

"He ain't gonna cut it," the boy replied with disinterest, "Somebody's gotta break that loser in."

"Not here, you won't," Xehanort said as he turned to walk away, "I have to keep up appearances."

"I know that," the boy replied as he put on his opaque black mask, "He just needs a little incentive to leave home."

_Why are they talking about Ventus like that_, she asked in her mind, _and what did that boy mean by 'incentive'?_ But she failed to realize that the masked boy stopped and turned to look in her direction. When she noticed that his masked face was eyeing her directly, Luna jumped in fright and ran to the other side of the training room only to find that Ventus, Terra and Aqua had already gone.

But once Luna knew that she was alone, she cast aside her fears and slipped back into confusion over the exam. She slowly walked over the stairway toward the three thrones that sat there, and took a seat on one of the steps sadly, cupping her head into her little hands. As she sat there, she questioned what could've happened to cause her brother to not earn his Mark of Mastery; he had worked very hard to become the Keyblade Master, so why did he fail? Was it because of that dark aura that sparked up earlier, or was there some other reason? The more she asked herself these things, the more she had trouble finding an answer.

"Luna, is something bothering you?"

Upon recognizing the aged but wise voice, she looked up to see Eraqus hovering close to her with a concerned face that any parent would have over a troubled child. It seemed to her that nothing escapes his attention, especially if it has to do with her.

"Yeah…it's about Terra," she replied hesitantly. Eraqus took a seat next to her, willing to listen to her. "Grandpa, why did my brother fail the test? I was hoping that he would become a Keyblade Master since he worked so hard to get there, but he didn't because of what you called 'darkness'. I know you've taught us that darkness has to be kept in check, and I know you're trying to help. But…you know that I'm no different. Maybe there's something dark in my brother, but you did tell me there's some in me, too."

Eraqus sighed deeply at this. "I know you had very high hopes for your brother, Luna, and I understand how much it means to both of you. But how can Terra truly become a Master if he cannot keep his darkness in line? I have told all of you that the darkness is very dangerous, and that it must be destroyed for the greater good, that you know." He put a hand on her small shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "But on your part, Luna, you are very different from your older brother. You have darkness within you, which is true. However, you are a very different case: I have told you about your power to use the shadows as your weapons, have I not?"

"You did tell me that," Luna replied, "You said that I'm something called Shadow Mage, and that the darkness in me acts more like a shield than a poison…I think."

"That's right, Luna. When I noticed that your heart had a light coated in a shadowy barrier, I suspected that something is protecting your heart than hurting it," he continued, "But regarding your powers, I didn't want to take chances. That's why I taught you to use your powers only for protection, and – should you not be fighting – use it in small proportions." He paused a moment. "Mind you, you are still very young, and you have yet to understand what happens to others that misuse the darkness so much."

"So, with what you're saying…do you mean that Big Brother and I can still do great things if we just be careful of what can hurt us?" Luna asked as she struggled to understand what she's being told.

"Yes, that's right, Luna," Eraqus replied. He glanced a moment to see Aqua coming to meet him for instructions, and then turned back to Luna. "If you'll forgive me, I have important matters to attend to. Could you wait in your room for a little while, please?"

Luna nodded slowly and walked away from the training room, but was still spaced out as she entered the hallway; before she knew it, she found that she wandered into the inner gardens, where she enjoyed being around the flowers whenever she wants to be alone. Unlike the rest of the gardens, she personally arranged it so that it looked dark like the night because she grew her favorite floral there: the moonflowers. To her, the moonflower is the most beautiful plant because it doesn't bloom like all other flowers she's ever seen; they only blossomed either at night or in shaded places. That, and the flower fit her character just fine; even her brother thought so. Why else would she earn her nickname 'Moonflower' from him?

Suddenly, Luna heard a loud ringing sound – like the tolling of a big bell – and wondered what could be going on. It went on for several minutes until it fell silent; within that moment, she remembered that there would never be an alarming ring unless there's danger afoot. She was about to investigate what was going on when something caught hold of her arm and pulled her back a bit.

"Whoa, now, what's your hurry? You have an appointment or something?"

The moment Luna registered that voice; she looked over her shoulder to see the masked boy standing behind her holding her skinny arm firmly. Now that he's in close view, she could see that the boy wore a peculiarly eerie black-and-red body armor that looked like it should be made of a monster's tendrils, and a mask that completely hid his face from plain sight. But since she didn't know the person with her, she instantly tensed up and froze in her place.

"I don't know you," Luna pointed out.

"True, but that doesn't mean we can't talk business," the masked boy replied with a shrug, "You heard the bells, didn't you? Something big is going on, and everyone you know is about to leave, especially your brother and your friend Ventus. You'd better hurry if you don't want to miss them, if you know what I mean."

Luna stared at the boy like he is crazy. "But I don't have one of those keys that can turn into transports. How can I catch up with them?"

The masked boy let go of her and let out a sarcastic gasp of realization. "You're right. That is a serious problem, indeed. How will you be able to leave this place without a little help?"

Then, she heard the masked boy chuckle with intrigue at her, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. She watched as the boy's chuckle changed into a maniacal laughter before he calmed down.

"Well, then, we'll just have to rectify that, won't we?" he asked as he pulled her very close to him, "What if I told you that I have a means to help you follow your friends, and I can give that to you?"

This offer caught her attention. "You can do that?"

"Ah, but you have to do something for me in return, my dear girl," the masked boy said in a dirty businessman way, "Tell me, did I hear right that you're a Shadow Mage?" She nodded hesitantly in response. "Well, then here's the deal: I want to see your potential as a Shadow Mage without that strict old man watching your every move. Got that? After all, once you're out and about, you can truly test what you can do. But I'm warning you: once you do get out, you'll never be the same."

"But how can I go to other places without help?" she asked with skepticism in her voice.

"That's very easy – you'll need this," the masked boy replied as he flicked his hand to create an ebony bracelet with a red gem embedded in it, "Do you know what it is? No?" Luna shook her head 'no' as the boy clasped the bracelet onto her wrist. "It's called a Teleport Brace. This thing is your ticket to the outside, your mode of transportation. With it, you can go wherever you want. But let me warn you: you can't tell Ventus where or who you got it from, you hear me?"

Nervously, Luna nodded in agreement, which was enough for the masked boy to let her go and walk back a few steps; then, he created a dark portal in front of him and started to enter it as if to leave. But before he did, he turned back to her one more time.

"You'd better hurry, then, my girl," he told her, "and keep me entertained while you're at it."

With that, the masked boy disappeared into the darkness, leaving Luna alone again. Quickly, she snapped out of her puzzled trance and hurried out the gardens to the main entrance only to find that Ventus was already leaving the Land of Departure on his own (to the shock of Aqua and Master Eraqus). Frantic, she made a mad dash down the stairs in the hope that she can reached her blonde-haired friend.

"Ven, wait for me!"

Her call to Ventus caused Aqua and Master Eraqus to turn around and see her running across the yard; but all of a sudden, the Teleport Brace around her right wrist started to glow and enveloped her in a transparent, crimson barrier. Instantly, Luna was lifted off the ground with ease, and she began to fly away faster than her blue-haired friend could react to stop her from getting away.


	4. Chapter 4 - Ch 3: Castle of Dreams

**And...here's the child's adventure finally starts. It wasn't simple finding a way to get my OC to blend into the main storyline, but it does take some research in order to know where to go. But it was fun figuring out how our little protagonist interacts with the first princess she meets. Anyways, enjoy!**

**I do not own anything in Kingdom Hearts, except my OCs.**

**Read and review, but no flames.**

Chapter 3 – Castle of Dreams

When Luna made a landing and the red barrier dissipated, she looked around to find herself surrounded by walls and trees with a fountain in the center. Curiously, she glanced left and right at the new environment, fascinated by the strange place she found herself in. Then, she immediately noticed a tall, pristine castle standing magnificently from yards away; her eyes widened at the beauty of the gigantic structure in front of her.

"Is that what a fairytale castle looks like?" she asked herself in awe, "It looks like something from those picture books I've read." She paused a moment with a bright idea in mind. "Maybe I should check it out. Maybe there's somebody home."

Just as she was about to head for the stairs, she turned to see a white pumpkin-shaped coach entering the courtyard and stop near the stairs. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Luna ran toward the left side of the stairway to see if there's anyone in the coach that could be heading for the castle. Sure enough, she saw the door open and out stepped a young woman with light blond hair, dressed in a bluish white ballgown that seemed to almost glow radiantly within the night. _She must be an important princess if she's coming to the castle this late at night_, Luna thought, _Maybe I should follow her and ask her where she's going_. With that idea in mind, she ran out from her hiding place and began to follow the woman up the stairs.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where you're going?" Luna asked.

The young woman turned around to see Luna stopping next to her, and smiled at her. "Well, hello there. What's a little girl like you doing out here?"

"I'm Luna, and I was wondering where you're going that's important," Luna replied.

"In that case, I am Cinderella," replied Cinderella, "and I'm going to the royal ball tonight. It's been my dream to go to the palace, and I don't want to miss it." She paused a moment with curiosity. "By the way, may I inquire as to where you came from?"

That was when Luna looked over to where she had first appeared from and pointed in that direction. "Over there."

Cinderella glanced over to where Luna was pointing a moment, and back to the little girl. "Oh, you probably got lost, then." _What made her think I got lost?_ Luna thought. _Maybe I'll just let her think that way, for my safety_. "I'll tell you what: how about you come with me into the palace? It would be safer for you than staying out here all alone."

"Well…okay, then," Luna agreed.

She took hold of the princess's hand, and followed her up the stairs to the foyer. But when they reached the top and were about to head for the doors, strange bluish creatures appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them. Cinderella became frightened, while Luna had no idea what was going on or where those things came from. When one of those strange creatures leaped in for an attack, she instinctively summoned a Shadow Hand and struck against the oncoming assailant.

"Go away!" Luna cried out. Another one leapt at them, but she reacted quickly and took out another one. "Leave her alone!"

Unfortunately, there were too many for her to handle, and she didn't know what to do. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she can fight back if she didn't know what she was dealing with. However, at the right moment, she saw Terra running up the stairs and charges in to take them out all at once. When they all disappeared from suffering heavy blows, Luna sighed in relief since she and Cinderella were safe from harm now. Then, she looked on as the princess let out a little gasp of recognition.

"I've met you before…"

Luna tilted her head in confusion. "You did?"

"I'll take care of them," Terra answered the princess, "You wait right here."

But Cinderella approached him with Luna still holding on to her hand. "Please, may we go with you? We so want to get to the ball."

The instant she said 'we', Terra turned around with a perplexed face; but when he looked down and saw Luna standing next to Cinderella, his confusion changed into shock within seconds.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" he asked with worry in his voice, "You know it's too dangerous to be wandering around on your own! What would they think if they found you left home like that?!"

"But I was trying to go after Ven," Luna replied, "I didn't want to be left alone. And besides, I just got here, so you can't make me leave."

"Please, don't be too hard on her," Cinderella spoke gently, "She is only a child, and it would be best if she came with us, for her safety. After all, she is very curious about what it's like inside the castle."

Luna nodded in agreement toward Cinderella, admiring how she was trying to reason with Terra even though she doesn't know about the situation at hand. Her brother let out a deep sigh of defeat, and turned away from them while scratching the back of his head.

"All right." He agreed reluctantly, "But stay behind me, or you'll both get hurt."

Cinderella nodded in agreement, and Luna simply followed suit.

"You're not worried?"

"Didn't you tell me it was important to stay strong?" she replied confidently.

Terra blushed a bit. "Oh, um…I guess I did."

"What did you tell her, Big Brother?" Luna asked.

"I'll tell you when we get through the castle," Terra replied softly. She could tell that her brother wanted to wait on the subject until they dealt with their current problem.

"So…you ready?"

"Yes."

"Ready when you are, Big Brother."

Terra opened the door to the castle and the three of them stepped inside the corridor. But when they were inside, more of those bluish creatures appeared, ready for a fight. Luna nearly jumped when they appeared so suddenly, but she was glad that Cinderella was still holding on to her as if to protect her from danger.

"Big Brother, what are those things that tried to hurt us earlier?" she had to ask.

"Those are Unversed, Luna. They're monsters that form from negativity…fledgling emotions, basically," he explained as he got into fighting position, "and are very dangerous." He turned to look at her. "Are you sure you want to come along?"

"You know I'm not gonna change my mind, Big Brother," Luna replied stubbornly, "If there are bigger monsters than the ones I saw last time, then you can handle them. And I can handle anything that tries to get near me and Cinderella."

She surprised herself when she said that, but at least she got her brother's nod of approval. While he went ahead to fight off the Unversed that appeared in front of him, Luna cautiously lead the princess through the corridor and took out any stragglers that tried to attack Cinderella directly with her Shadow Hands. With her and her brother working together to fight through waves of Unversed, they were able to quickly get through the corridor and reach the stairway to the upstairs; but they weren't out of the woods as more Unversed showed up to try and ambush them again. However, the two of them rinsed and repeated the process against the incoming enemies until they made it to the upstairs where the ballroom awaited them.

As soon as everything was all clear, the trio approached the ballroom entrance where a group of people were enjoying themselves. Up ahead, Luna could see two ugly women trying to court a young man (who she guessed is the prince) to no avail, and to her left, she saw a spindly man with a monocle and a very unusual beard. It made her wonder how so many people could even get involved for one night, much less to visit someone from royalty.

"Oh, thank you…umm…" Cinderella began to speak.

"Terra," he answered.

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Terra." She looked down to Luna. "And thank you, Luna."

Luna blushed a little, and smiled sheepishly as she stepped back to her older brother. Terra simply acted like a gentleman and gestured the princess to go right in, to the delight of Cinderella.

Luna watched as the crowd turned to see the beautiful young woman enter the ballroom, and is in awe at her beauty and mystery; on the other hand, the prince was so mystified by her that he approached her and invited her to dance with him. She felt rather pleased that Cinderella was able to do something like dancing at a royal ball, and secretly wished that she could join in as well; but how could she do that? She's only a small child, for crying out loud.

"Maybe just believing is enough," her brother suddenly said.

She turned to Terra. "What d'ya mean by that, Big Brother?"

He turned toward her and knelt down to her. "Well, Luna, when I had arrived here, I found her filled with sorrow because people she knew did something terrible to her. She even was thinking that her dreams would never come true. I told her that she had to be strong, and that the strength of her heart can overcome the hardest of trials. Then, a kind elderly woman told how Cinderella's dreams make her heart shine, and…well…she told me to go to the palace to understand."

Luna was silent for a moment as she tried to wrap her head around it. "So…you mean that Cinderella is hoping that her dreams are achieved by pure faith?"

"That's what I've come to understand," Terra replied, but was cut off when he turned toward the balcony hovering over the ballroom.

Luna followed his gaze and saw blurs of blue flickering up there. "What is it?"

"Unversed!" he replied in alarm. Then, she saw her brother run over to the man with the monocle and ask him, "Tell me, how do I get up there?"

The man cleared his throat and replied, "Well, there is a passage beneath the foyer staircase."

"Thanks." Terra ran back to Luna for a moment. "Stay in the ballroom, Luna. I'm going to check things out."

"Be careful, Big Brother," she replied worriedly.

She watched as her brother ran down the staircase on his own, and then turned to walk into the ballroom and see what's going on. Though she knew that Terra told her to stay put for her safety, she couldn't shake off the feeling that those Unversed didn't get up there on purpose; she wondered what could've brought the monsters there in the first place. She looked around the room at each and every guest that are there, until she noticed a richly dressed old woman standing by the corner with a seething look in her eyes. Immediately, she noticed that the woman was radiating a dark, sinister aura around her, flickering with hatred and jealousy all around her. She questioned what she could be angry about, until she followed the woman's glare toward Cinderella; once she put two and two together, a sinking feeling came into her head: Cinderella could be in danger.

Turns out, her fears were confirmed when a shady circle formed in the middle of the ballroom and a gigantic Unversed emerged from the darkness. It looked like a music composer because it had a red suit with puffy white pants, a feathered red hat, and black boots; in its hand, it held a jagged baton that looked like it should be used more as a sword than a maestro's tool. She looked on as it summoned three instruments – a trumpet, a drum, and a violin – by its side, and appeared to be casting a spell that unleashed an aura of musical notes.

Realizing that her brother was heading for the balcony, she shot her head upward to find him caught off guard at the sight of the Unversed that made its debut. When it unleashed an explosive blast, Luna panicked, thinking that her brother got caught by the attack.

"Down here!"

When she recognized the voice, she whirled around to find that Terra was safe and sound and ready to beat this monster to a pulp.

The guests in the ballroom panicked the moment everyone saw the monster, and began to flee from the room in desperation. The skinny man attempted to call for the guards, but they are nowhere to be found.

"Ooh, where could they possibly be?" he questioned anxiously.

"I'll take care of it," Terra declared.

"I'll help, too!" Luna added.

Terra was taken aback at her words, but knew that he couldn't change her mind. "Luna, see what you can do about the instruments. I'll go after the main target."

"I'm on it!"

Immediately, sister and brother charged into the fray against the Symphony Master. On Luna's part, she summoned one Shadow Hand at a time and manipulated the hands to smash each instrument – one at a time – all over the ground; one by one, the drum, the violin, and the trumpet were terminated by the efforts of the little girl.

While she was occupied with the instruments, Terra made sure to keep the Symphony Master distracted so as to let her do her work. But there did come a point where the giant Unversed noticed that its support was destroyed, and caught sight of the child finishing her part of the fight. Suddenly, it jumped away from Terra and landed close to Luna's position; by the time she realized that the monster had shifted its attention to her, it was ready to toss its baton at her and strike against her.

"No, you are NOT attacking my sister!"

Before the Symphony Master could even throw its weapon against Luna, the monstrous maestro was smacked down into submission with Terra right behind it, clearly angry that it would dare to target her. She took advantage of its vulnerability by summoning multiple Shadow Hands to bind its arms and legs, rendering it completely helpless long enough for Terra to finish it off. Once the Unversed gave up and vanished into oblivion, both breathed a sigh of relief that the fight was finished…but not without Terra showing just how worried he was with her.

"You nearly gave me a scare when that Unversed aimed for you," Terra said with a bit of anxiety in his voice, "You need to be more careful, Luna."

"But I didn't because you took care of it," Luna replied, "I just wasn't paying attention, like I should've. You know that."

Terra sighed when heard her answer. "You're right. Just do me a favor, and be more wary of your enemies next time. Watch your back."

"Okay."

That was when they looked back to see a small crowd of people return to the ballroom cautiously along with Cinderella, the prince, and the Grand Duke (that's what he actually is). It seemed that even after the mess had been cleaned up, some of the people simply left the castle out of fear of what happened; but it was nice that others were brave enough to return and continue enjoying the night.

The Duke walked over to them and said gratefully, "Thank you both. You saved us all." Then, he looked around a bit at the small crowd. "The guests were just starting to enjoy themselves…"

"Don't give up just now!" Luna insisted, "Look over there."

She pointed her finger toward Cinderella and the prince from a distance, causing both men to turn around and see them talking from a distance. The Duke gasped with joy at the sight, and Terra smiled at the good news for a moment. But then she and Terra turned back to the Duke, and Luna listened as he asked the Duke a question.

"Tell me something: have you always had a problem around here with those monsters?"

"No. I believe…" the Duke replied, "…eh, they began to appear shortly after a boy in a mask arrived in our kingdom." Luna gulped quietly when she heard him mention the masked boy. "Those that saw him said the monsters obeyed his every command."

"A boy in a mask?" Terra repeated. "Do you know where he is now?"

"Well…No, I don't believe anyone has seen him since then," the Duke replied.

"I see…"

Before Luna could ask her brother what he was talking about, she heard the sound of a clockwork chime going off. Quickly, she turned to Cinderella and saw that she seemed to jump from the chiming. All of a sudden, the princess made haste from the ballroom to the surprise of everyone in the room, including Luna.

"Big Brother, where's she going?" she asked quietly.

"I think the clock struck midnight," Terra answered in a whisper, "That means the spell is about to break."

When she realized what this could mean if Cinderella's real identity was discovered, Luna gasped loudly and made a mad dash out of the ballroom after her.

"Luna, where do you think you're going?!" Terra cried out.

"I'm going to help her!" Luna shouted as she ran, "I'll be fine, don't worry about me!"

Admittedly, she was quite amazed that she was able to run like a madman – and at the age of four, to boot. Fortunately, she was able to reach Cinderella just in time to pull her by the hand and lead her out of the castle, not realizing that Aqua was just coming in and noticed her running away.

"Luna, what are you…?" Aqua was about to ask.

"Sorry, Aqua! I'm busy!" Luna called out without looking back at her.

She and Cinderella continued to hurry as fast as their legs could carry them until they were a long ways away from the place; by that point, Luna's feet were so stressed that she suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. After taking a few breaths of air, she looked up to find Cinderella in a tattered pink dress and her hair down to her shoulder; however, she still had one glass slipper on her foot. _I guess she lost it before I came down to help her escape_, Luna thought. But then she noticed that the princess saw her on the ground and came over to see if she's okay.

"Oh, are you alright, Luna?" she asked while helping her get up, "Are you hurt?"

Luna coughed a bit before she answered, "I'm okay. I trip myself sometimes, but I'm fine."

Cinderella breathed a sigh of relief, and looked down at her glass slipper. "Well, it looks like I still have the other slipper."

"Maybe you should hang on to it. It might be useful," Luna suggested, "And be careful of that creepy old lady. She had a very nasty aura on her, and it screamed 'hate'."

"Oh…you mean my stepmother." Cinderella thought about it for a moment. "It's true she is a cruel woman, and she did make my life miserable. But don't worry about me. I have friends who can help me like you have people who look out for you. I'll be alright."

With that, she stood up and began to walk away, but then she stopped to look behind her one more time.

"That reminds me…" she said dreamily, "Luna, do you have any dreams?"

One moment, Luna was startled that she would ask such a question; but then, she quickly became stumped: does she have any dreams of her own? Or did she not even think about it?

"I don't know. I never thought about it," she replied.

"Hmm…well, you don't have to answer that right now," Cinderella reassured her, "You can think it over. I'm sure you'll find your answer."

When she left down the path, Luna walked over to a stone bench and took a seat on it in contemplation. She knew that her brother and Ventus and Aqua must have big dreams to become Masters, and that's very important to them; but what dreams could a small child like her have? She can't use keyblades like her friends and brother can; she specializes in conjuring the shadows to her beck and call, and she has yet to understand herself.

"What is my dream?" she asked herself aloud.

"You won't be able to answer that question if you don't investigate it yourself, my dear."

Baffled by the sweet, elderly voice, Luna looked up and turned to see a plump old woman in a faded blue robe seated next to her, smiling sweetly at her. The little girl nearly jumped when she realized that she's not alone.

"You heard everything?" Luna asked in shock, "Who are you?"

"Of course, my dear child," the woman replied tenderly, "I'm Cinderella's fairy godmother. And I certainly heard the question you were asking. Given that you are still very young, little one, it is hard to know what you want. But if you can meet more people and learn about their dreams, perhaps you'll find the answer that you're looking for."

Luna slowly nodded in agreement. "Maybe you're right. Thanks, Miss Fairy." Then, she thought about something. "Oh, um…if you meet a blue-haired friend of mine named Aqua; can you tell her that I'm sorry for not talking to her when she came here? I was in a rush to help Cinderella escape."

"I'll make sure she gets your message," Fairy Godmother replied with a smile, "Take care of yourself, my dear. And do be careful on your journey: someone has been watching you, even though you don't know it right now."

Though she didn't understand what the Fairy Godmother meant when she said someone was watching her, she was very appreciative of her advice to talk with other people in order to figure out any questions she might have. She started to run off elsewhere when the Teleport Brace began to glow brightly and enveloped her in the barrier, and she flew away to the next world. She wondered what her next destination might be, and whether she'll find Ven there; better yet, find someone who has met him.


	5. Chapter 5 - Ch 4 - Dwarf Woodlands

**Now this one, I must admit, was a very fun chapter to do. I wanted to do something completely different for the Dwarf Woodlands; so, I thought: Hey, hasn't anyone thought of having their OC directly confront the evil queen while she was a hag? Probably not. So, I thought I'd be the first. And it was so satisfying since I had a little help setting everything up with my...trusty editors. Anyway, enjoy!**

**I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts, except my OCs.**

**Read, review, no flames.**

Chapter 4 - Dwarf Woodlands

Of course, she spoke too soon when she found herself in an open area at night; she was just fine with being out in the dark when there were some lights to illuminate the night in the last world, but the newest world she's in didn't have much. Luna feared that something might try and scare her since she's alone.

"It's too dark out here." Luna whimpered, "I gotta find someplace to stay."

She started to walk off and look around until she spotted a little cottage in a rather peaceful clearing. She could see that there's a light coming out of the window, and hear faint voices coming from the house, so she decided to find out if anyone is home. Slowly Luna approached the little door to the cottage and knocked on the door. Immediately, the voices fell silent for a moment before she heard someone say something from inside.

"Now, who could that be?"

"Maybe it's just…" A yawn could be heard inside. "...little critters."

"Hmph! No way! There might be thieves roaming about, or that old witch that is the queen!"

_What are they talking about in there?_ Luna asked in her head. _I'm sure I'm not a thief_.

Then she heard a sweet, innocent voice say, "Or perhaps it's a lost traveler. Let's see who is in need of help."

"N-Now, we ton't know…I-I mean, we don't know what's out there!"

But it was too late; the door opened wide and Luna looked up to see a very lovely young woman standing near the arch. She had white skin and short black hair, wearing a blue and yellow dress and a red ribbon on her head. No doubt, Luna could tell that she's just as beautiful as the last princess she met, but with a much more innocent personality; in fact, she was even staring at her like she's very happy to see her.

"Why, hello there, little lady," the princess greeted cheerfully, "What are you doing out here this late at night? Are you lost?"

_Talk about déjà vu_, Luna thought. "Actually…I did get lost, and I was wondering if there was anybody home." She looked over to see seven bearded men at the table staring at her warily. "I don't want to intrude, but could I please stay here for the night? I promise I'll behave."

"W-Well, I…um…I don't see too much of a problem," the bearded man with the spectacles spoke, "She-She did ask nicely, after all."

"She's probably trickin' ya into letting her in, 'cause she's a witch in disguise!" the grouchy man objected.

"Oh, she doesn't look like a witch to me," the cheerful bearded man insisted, "She looks more like a lost child in need."

"She did say 'please'," the long-bearded man added sleepily.

"The more, the merrier," another bearded man agreed bashfully (hint, hint).

"You see? They're willing to let you stay," the lovely lady said, "Please, come inside and join us…oh, I should introduce myself: my name is Snow White."

"I'm Luna, and thank you for letting me in," Luna replied as she stepped inside the cottage.

Suddenly, Luna felt her left arm being tugged a bit and looked over to see a beardless little man smiling at her jovially and pointing over to the table.

"Huh? You want me to join you?" Luna asked.

The dwarf nodded and pulled her over to a stool, joyfully urging her to sit down. Snow White giggled as Luna sat down and looked over toward the seven little men with curiosity. Most of them looked at her with welcoming eyes (save for one), somehow very assured that she means no harm.

She turned to the princess and asked, "Hey, Snow, can you tell me who your friends are? I don't want to feel awkward since it's my first time meeting them."

"I'd be glad to, Luna," Snow White replied, "These good men are dwarves. Their names are Doc," Doc smiled as he adjusted his spectacles. "Happy," Happy gave a very friendly wave to Luna. "Sleepy," Sleepy nodded off to sleep for a moment or two. "Bashful," Bashful blushed as his name was brought up. "Sneezy," Luna saw him sneeze a bit before smiling sheepishly at her. "Grumpy," Grumpy turned away grouchily. "Dopey." Dopey jumped onto Luna and hugged her tightly.

"Wow…those are nice names," Luna said as she smiled, "and you really sound like nice guys."

"Why, thank you, Luna," Happy answered…well…happily. "And you sound like a nice little girl yourself."

"Now, then, Miss Luna…w-would you like to tell us why you're here on your own?" Doc asked her, "Normally, children like you don't…um, well…you-you know, go leave home by themselves, you see."

"I'm looking for a friend of mine," Luna replied, "His name is Ventus. Have any of you seen him?"

The moment she brought up Ventus's name, the dwarves went quiet and looked over to Snow White as if they were unsure as to what to say to her. Thankfully, Snow walked over to her and spoke to her on their behalf.

"To be honest, Ventus was here earlier," Snow White explained, "but my friends weren't on the best terms with him…they didn't trust him, even though I told them he helped me out of the woods."

"Oh…" Luna replied disappointedly, "Then, I guess I just missed him."

"But before he left, he did tell me much about you: about how sweet you are, and how you would've loved to meet new people if you came here," Snow White reassured her tenderly, "so, you needn't worry. I'm certain he's alright."

Somehow, Luna felt comfort in knowing that Ven is alright. "Thanks, Princess."

During her stay at the dwarves' cottage, Luna certainly enjoyed her stay as she helped Snow White with cooking and even got some laughs out of the dwarves' antics (especially when the antics are directed to Grumpy); but the best part of the night was when she sat with the dwarves to hear Snow White's story about dreams of happiness and love, which was something she never did before. It was almost as if she were listening to a bedtime story.

"…He was so romantic, I couldn't resist," Snow White finished. She sighed deeply. "Even now, I hope that one day my prince would come."

"Maybe he will," Luna said, "But how would I know about love? I'm only four."

"Don't worry about it, Luna. Maybe you'll find your prince, too," Happy reassured her, "and he'll be like Snow White's prince."

"Gosh, that'd be a purdy story to tell…" Bashful agreed while turning pink on his cheeks.

"Pardon me, um, Miss Luna, b-but…uh…perhaps you could tell us your story?" Doc asked, "Y'know, um, tell about herself – erm, I-I mean, yourself?"

"Talk about myself?" Luna asked. She thought about it for a moment, wondering what she could tell them without spilling too much. "Well…to be honest, I don't know where I was born. All I know is that I have a mother, but I don't know where she is. In fact, I was only two when she disappeared." She sighed. "For two years, my life was spent with my big brother and his friends, and even with Grandpa. But don't get me wrong: they were like a second family to me, and I am glad about that."

"Oh, my, it must be sad…not knowing where you come from. And not know where your mother is, for that matter," Snow said sadly, "Was it not easy for you, what with not having an actual family to support you and guide you?"

"I guess it was hard, but lucky for me, my brother was training with Grandpa Eraqus, so it helped me see another family in Aqua and Ven," Luna replied reassuringly, "Grandpa may have been strict sometimes, but he loves us like we're his children. And Aqua is like a big sister to me, even if she scolds me like a nagging mom, and Ven is like a fun-loving big brother to be around."

At that moment, Dopey hugged Luna lovingly and smiled brightly at her. She couldn't hold back a grin at how goofy the oddball of the bunch was, but she liked it when someone other than the people she knew genuinely adored her.

Even Snow White giggled at the amusing sight. "I think Dopey really likes you, Luna."

"I guess his hugging is his way of showing how he feels," Happy speculated.

Just then, the clock began to chime – Cuckoo! Cuckoo! – And everyone looked to see that it was getting late.

"Oh! Would you look at the time?" Snow White exclaimed, "It's time for everyone to be off to bed."

But when Snow was leading the dwarves to the stairs, Luna watched as all of them stopped where they are and turned around to face her.

"Actually, um, we'll let you and Miss Luna sleep upstairs," Doc suggested, "and-and we can sleep down here."

Luna looked around the downstairs area and asked, "But where are all of you going to sleep? There are no beds down here."

"We'll…We'll…A-CHOO! Um, we'll figure something out," Sneezy replied.

"Well, alright, then. Come along, Luna," Snow White agreed, "Let's get settled in for tonight, my dear."

"Hmm…okay, then."

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to dissuade the dwarves from giving up their beds, Luna followed Snow White up the stairs into the bedroom. But when they got up there and Snow shut the door behind her, Luna could've sworn that she heard noises downstairs – from crashing to clattering – but quickly dismissed it. The good thing, though, was that Luna only needed to snuggle into one bed since she's still short in height.

"Luna?"

She turned her head to see Snow White sitting beside her.

"I hope you understand why I was surprised to learn about your mother," she said softly, "Although you told that she only disappeared, it made me feel terrible for you. On my part, I have a stepmother, but she hates me." She paused for a moment. "Did your grandfather ever tell you why she disappeared?"

Luna nodded. "He did, even though it was hard for him to tell me why."

_Flashback:_

_Three-year-old Luna sat on the stairway to the castle in the Land of Departure with a puzzled frown on her face. She wasn't her usual perky self for the past few days, and it was because of questions that formed in her head: where was her mother? What happened to her? Why I was brought to this place? Unfortunately, she couldn't figure out how to answer them since she doesn't know herself._

_But she didn't realize that Eraqus had just come outside and found her sitting alone on the stairs, looking out elsewhere._

_"__There you are, Luna. Where were you?" he asked, "Your brother was afraid that you had wandered off. I looked everywhere for you."_

_However, she didn't hear him at all. She just kept staring elsewhere until he finally decided to take a seat next to her and look at her even though she wasn't paying attention._

_"__Luna, what's bothering you?" Eraqus asked her, "You're not your usual self. Can you tell me what's on your mind, child?"_

_Luna turned to look at his mildly aged face and asked, "Grandpa, why did Mama leave me here? Where did she go?"_

_He sighed deeply as he scratched his head, unsure of how to talk to her; this made Luna aware that he knows something, but the question is whether he will answer her truthfully or not. She stared emotionlessly at him as she waited for Eraqus to confess something to her, hoping that she could at least be able to understand why she's here in the first place._

_"__Your mother…the reason she left you in my care was because she didn't want you to get hurt by dark forces that were pursuing her. She had to go into hiding in order to protect you," Eraqus replied sadly, "She left you here because she loved you." He paused a moment. "I was hoping not to tell you until you're older, but…but I suppose it couldn't be avoided."_

_"__Will I ever see Mama again?" she had to ask._

_"__Perhaps, when she's sure that it's safe, she'll come back for you," Eraqus told her, "But until I know for sure, you'll have to keep waiting. But please let me ask you not to tell anyone what I have told you, not even Ventus or Aqua."_

_"__Okay."_

Upon thinking about what she was able to learn, Luna couldn't help but feel guilty for not telling her friends about what she knew, but she was sure that it would've been difficult for the people she knew to understand.

"…But now that I think about it, maybe the reason I couldn't tell anybody about my mother was because it was to keep me and Mama out of danger," Luna said thoughtfully.

"If that is the case, then I'm sure you'll see her again when she's ready," Snow White reassured her tenderly, "But that doesn't mean you can't look for other people to love, other things to enjoy, and other places to see. Something good will come to you if just hold on to your hopes."

While she doesn't really understand what Snow was talking about, it was comforting that she was giving her something to think about. Luna didn't get a chance to think further because she was already slipping into sleep and before she knew it, everything went completely black; unbeknownst to her, someone was watching her from outside for a moment before disappearing into the darkness…

When morning came around, Luna had to wake up and help the dwarves get ready for their work at the mines. She helped get their equipment ready to go, checking if the lantern has enough oil inside to light it up when it gets dark and polishing the pickaxes while Snow White made sure they had a hearty breakfast before they left. When it was time for them to leave for work, the dwarves made sure to warn Luna and Snow White about the queen and what she can do.

"J-Just remember not to let any strangers in the house," Doc warned them.

"Beware the queen! She's a crafty old witch, and if you drop your guard too much, she'll wreck her vengeance on ya blindly," Grumpy added.

"We'll be alright," Snow White reassured them.

"Luna, if anything bad happens, follow the path to the mines," Happy told her, "and call for us from the entrance. We'll answer and meet you there."

Luna nodded in understanding. "Okay."

As six of the dwarves started to walk off and wave goodbye, Dopey gave Luna a big hug before running off to keep up with the others. When all of them have left down the path, it was only her and Snow White left in the house. So, to keep herself busy, she helped Snow keep the house clean as best she could (but required a little help reaching higher places), and even got to learn how to cook from her. Later in the afternoon, Snow White began to work on making grape pie as a treat for them and Luna made an effort to help her out.

"Do you think we have enough grapes?" Luna asked as she looked over the counter.

"Probably not," Snow White replied as she looked at what little grapes they have. "Luna, do you want to get a few clusters of grapes from the vineyard?"

"Sure. Where can I find the vineyard?" Luna agreed.

"The vineyard is near the back of the cottage. You might need the two pouches hanging near the door," Snow White explained as she pointed toward a pair of leather pouches hung on a hook.

"Alright, that should be easy," Luna said as she stepped off the stool she was using, "I won't take long, Snow."

Eagerly, Luna picked up the leather pouches, buckled them to her waist, and walked out the door to the clearing. From there, she trailed around the house and found the vineyard filled with fresh green and purple grapes waiting to be picked; she ran over and immediately got to work on picking the clusters from the vines.

However, just when she had picked the third cluster for pouch number one, she heard someone coming down the path from the woods. She turned her head to see an ugly old woman in a black robe trekking along the road with a basket full of apples. At first, she had no idea what to make of that old woman, but something about her sent chills down Luna's spine; and the chill was not from curiosity, but from fear. So, she focused her sights on the old lady to see a dark aura surrounding her; not only that, but she also vaguely saw the image of a darkly beautiful queen in the place of the hag, causing Luna to realize that this was the queen the dwarves had warned her and Snow White about this morning. To make the matter worse, when she looked around the corner, she saw that the old hag was entering the house – and Snow White is inside, possibly about to be in danger!

"I gotta warn the dwarves!" Luna panicked.

Not hesitating for one second, Luna rushed away from the cottage and followed the path to the mines as she was instructed. Along the way, she encountered a few Unversed that tried to block her way, but she swiftly took care of them with several swipes of her Shadow Hands until she can keep going. Sure enough, when she found the tunnel entrance, she ran towards it and began to call the name of the first dwarf she could think of.

"Doc!" she shouted, "Doc, the queen found the cottage! She's at the cottage!"

Seconds later, she heard several footsteps running up the tunnel path and stepped aside to let all seven dwarves assemble outside.

"Luna, w-w-what's happened?" Doc asked immediately, "Did-Did you say that you saw the queen?"

"I did, and she came in the form of an ugly old lady!" Luna exclaimed.

"Then we've got to go back to the cottage!" Happy cried out, "Snow White could be in danger!"

Dopey jumped in panic and ran around in circles for a moment.

"Lead the way, then, missy!" Grumpy declared.

Luna took the lead down the path back to the clearing with the seven dwarves following closely behind her, carrying pickaxes to defend themselves if necessary. As they headed back, more Unversed tried to interfere, but she took care of them so that her friends wouldn't have a lot of trouble. However, by the time they got there, they found the door left wide open and ran inside to inspect what had happened. To their horror, they found Snow White on the floor seemingly dead with a bitten apple.

"Princess!" all the dwarves cried out at once.

Luna rushed over to Snow White and checked to see if she's dead or alive. When she put her little fingers to the princess's wrist, she found that there's still a pulse, but just barely; that meant only one thing: she's not really dead. She's still alive, but only just.

"Snow, what happened to you…?" she whispered anxiously.

She looked toward the bitten apple, and picked it up for examination. She noticed how oddly bright red it looked on the outside and it appeared to be harmless; but when she focused her senses, she saw an aura of evil surrounding the fruit, the same one that the old hag had when she saw her coming down the path. Closer inspection of the skin allowed her to smell a sickly sweet fragrance coming out of it, which meant only one thing: poison. Luna's fear drastically changed into anger as she squeezed the apple in her hands and threw it into the fire, causing it to burst into an eerily blue flame.

"The queen did this…! She hurt Snow White!" Luna hissed furiously. She turned around to face the dwarves. "We've got to find that queen, and make her pay!"

"I agree on that, missy!" Grumpy agreed boldly.

"W-We all do on that," Doc added.

Dopey ran over to Luna and lead her outside to point at a set of footprints leading towards another part of the forest and the rocky hills. This clue was just enough to get her riled up and ready for revenge.

"Let's follow the hag's trail," Luna declared like a leader, "and make her wish she had never meant harm on Snow White!"

"Lead the way!" the dwarves shouted in unison.

With the fires in their hearts stoked up, Luna charged down the trail with the seven dwarves following behind her in single file. Within a short time, they found the hag/queen walking away whilst laughing to herself until she spotted Luna and the dwarves in hot pursuit and fled as fast as she could. The chase leads them towards the rocky hills, where the hag/queen had begun to climb, desperately trying to escape. However, things became rougher when a storm began rolling in, with rain pouring down and thunder rolling constantly; sometimes, the lightning would strike the ground and cause parts of the hills to crumble at certain places. It didn't help that Unversed would show up on occasions to attempt to stop the pursuing team from reaching the target with no success.

At one point, Luna and the dwarves found the hag/queen managing to use an Archraven to fly over a gap that resulted from the ledges being broken. This left the group in a serious predicament.

"How are we going to get across? The path has been severed!" Happy cried out.

"Leave this to me!" Luna reassured them.

With a thrusting wave of her hands, Luna conjured an enormous hand from the edge of the pathway to the other side, forming an enormous shadowy arm acting like a bridge. Most of the dwarves gaped in awe at what she had created for them.

"How on earth did you just - ?!" Grumpy was about to ask.

"I can't tell you right now!" Luna interrupted, "We gotta keep going!"

At full haste, they ran across the 'Shadow Hand Bridge' and continued their pursuit of the wicked hag/queen once more. On several occasions, Luna would use her Shadow Hands to form stepping platforms and bridges for her and the dwarves to cross safely while the chase was still on.

Soon, they finally caught up and found the hag/queen trapped on the Cliffside, obviously rattled and unsure of what to do. However, when Luna and the dwarves have caught up, she turned around and looked below to find them armed and ready to fight back against her.

"You've got nowhere to run, you bad old hag!" Luna yelled out at the hag/queen, "We're gonna make you pay for hurting Snow White!"

That got the hag/queen riled up enough. "What an impudent child you are! Didn't anyone teach you to show respect to your elders?! Very well, then, I'll just have to make you wish that you never crossed me!"

Knowing that the hag/queen is now determined to get even, Luna looked through the environment and figured out the situation they're in. To the upper left of the Cliffside, she saw a boulder sitting near a slope that leads all the way down to their positions. _If that big rock goes tumbling, we're done for_, Luna thought nervously. To her right, she found that there's a stair-like path leading to a slightly lower part of the Cliffside; it was just low enough for her to probably conjure a Shadow Hand and go in for the kill. Finally, she made a drastic turn to find a perch just small enough for a little person to watch the area.

"Doc, you think you can get on that perch and watch the field?" Luna asked, "Let me know what's going on?"

"I'm on it, Miss Luna!" Doc agreed as he hurried to the perch.

Just as Doc took position on the perch, Unversed made their appearance on the wide ledge and made ready to attack the party. Luna knew that she's going to need all the help she can get from the dwarves if she's going to put the hag/queen in her place.

"Okay, dwarves! Let's give that hag what she deserves!" Luna cried out.

With the dwarves' by her side, she was able to take on enough Unversed until she allowed the little men to handle the stragglers. However, there did come a point where Doc noticed that the hag/queen rushed toward the boulder and was about to try and use a stick to force the boulder to collapse on them.

"Luna, she's trying to send the boulder on us! Stop her!"

Once she heard this, she looked up to see what the hag/queen was doing; sure enough, she could see bits of rock breaking underneath the boulder. Luna turned to find Dopey pointing over to Grumpy (who was beating down a Flood) and ran over to him.

"Grumpy, get the old lady's attention!" Luna called, "Make her mad!"

"That I can do," he replied as he ran over and began shouting at the hag, "Hey, you dirty old witch! You gonna turn coward on us? Come on over and fight us, man to man – unless you're too weak and helpless to do that!"

Those insults were just enough to provoke the hag/queen into stopping what she was doing, and made her come down the steps to throw a fire potion and a spell or two at them. But what she didn't realize was that she left herself wide open for Luna's assault; the little girl conjured a Shadow Hand to reach her level and swiped at her repeatedly until the old woman retreated to higher ground.

From there on in, Luna helped out each of the dwarves in the fight. Anytime she woke up Sleepy, his yawn was so contagious that any Unversed within range fell asleep and were left vulnerable to a direct attack. When Dopey would shake pepper everywhere, Sneezy would let out a gust of wind that knocked away the Archravens that tried to swoop in. Grumpy and Bashful would make sure the hag/queen was distracted from the boulder with either petty insults or trick her into coming out into the open, allowing Luna and the band to take a hit at her. Happy saw to it that everyone stayed in shape with a welcome supply of Potions on hand. Depending on the situation at hand, Doc would let Luna know what's going on and she would do whatever he warns her about to get the job done.

Thankfully, when they've managed to punish the hag/queen enough, she started to stumble towards the edge until a stroke of lightning hit between the party and the queen, causing the ledge to break apart and the hag/queen to tumble, taking the boulder that she meant to use against them with her. Luna and the dwarves looked over the edge to find that the wicked woman was no more.

With the job done, she and the dwarves began their descent back to the cottage. But while Luna was relieved that the horrible old hag got what she deserved, she was also saddened that she couldn't save Snow White. It made her wish that one of her friends was here with her for that moment…maybe Aqua. _I bet Aqua would know how to help Snow_, Luna thought sadly, _since she knows magic and all._

When they arrived at the clearing, she stopped and watched as the dwarves went inside to see to Snow White. But she didn't feel like going inside, so she decided to sit outside and think things over; doing so caused her to remember the calm before the storm, especially when she was with the princess. Then, she recalled what Snow had said about hoping to meet her prince whom she had met before at the queen's castle when she was but a servant; the way she spoke about her dreams of love made Luna wonder if Snow was also hoping she would find love even though she doesn't understand what it is. When she thought about it, Luna had reason to believe that Snow wanted her to find someone she would want to be with.

"M-Miss Luna, are you alright?"

Luna snapped out of her daze and looked to see all the dwarves standing next to her with sympathetic faces. She stood up and shook her head sadly at them.

"Not really. I just don't like what happened to Snow," Luna replied, "It made me angry that somebody so evil like that hag – the queen, I mean – would ever think about hurting her like that."

"Don't worry, Luna. You did what you could to help us," Happy reassured her, "We'll keep looking after the princess for you."

Suddenly, she felt a slight tugging on the skirt of her dress, and looked to see Dopey standing next to her.

"What is it, Dopey?" she asked.

Dopey took off his cap, shuffled through it like he's looking for something, and pulled out a shimmering diamond for all to see. She was baffled when she saw the gem in his hand, but then watched as he put the stone in her hand, looked up, and smiled at her.

"You're giving this to me?" Luna asked in confusion.

"Oh, um…I think Dopey is trying to cheer you up," Doc explained, "Why else would he give the diamond to you?"

Luna looked at Dopey, and managed to bring up a small smile on her face. How sweet was that, being given something so pretty because a friend cared about her?

"Thanks, Dopey," she said softly. Dopey simply smiled at her and hugged her warmly.

Then, she noticed a flicker coming from her Teleport Brace, and looked down to see the glow. It was a warning to her that it's time to resume her search for Ven; although she didn't like the idea of leaving her new friends, she had to seek her old friends and her brother. But there was one thing she had to do before she left.

"Hey, guys, do you mind if I give back one of the pouches?" Luna asked as she removed the pouch with the grape clusters from her waist. "Wherever I'm going next, I don't really need two."

"Do you really have to leave?" Happy asked her.

"Gee, we'll miss you, Luna," Bashful agreed while blushing.

"W-Well, if that's the case, then can you give Ben – I-I mean, Ven – a message?" Doc asked as he took the pouch, "Can you tell him that, um, we didn't mean to be distasteful – I mean, distrustful of him? He should know that…um…w-we really enjoyed being around you."

Luna smiled a little more at this. "Okay. I'll make sure he gets the message." She started to step back a bit. "It's been nice meeting all of you, even though it was just one night. And…if Snow wakes up, tell her I'll miss her."

At the right moment, the bracelet began its work and formed the barrier around her; then, she soared into the sky and rocketed away from the place. As she was flying away, though, she couldn't help but give one last look at the lovely world she was in, hoping that maybe one day she could pay another visit.

_Snow White must be lucky to have met people who really took a liking to her_, Luna thought to herself. _If she was able to make new friends and find love, maybe I can do that, too_.


	6. Chapter 6 - Ch 5: Enchanted Dominion

**Well, it's about time I up the ante just for a brief bit: two chapters delivered in one day! *sarcastically* Clever me. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.**

**I own nothing in Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.**

**Read and review, but no flames.**

Chapter 5 - Enchanted Dominion

At first, Luna had no clue what world she found herself in; that is, until she looked around and saw that she was standing on a bridge leading to a tall stone castle a good distance away. But what really bothered her was how quiet the whole place is: there should be something busy going on or at least someone patrolling the castle that she can find and ask questions.

"I don't get it. Should somebody be home?" she asked as she puzzled over the oddity. "Or maybe Ven or Big Brother are here, and are investigating the castle right now."

With the most logical choice being looking for her friends and her brother, Luna decided to head straight for the castle and see what she can find. But her chances of going there were stopped when she saw Ventus running out of the castle with three women flying right behind him. _Where is Ven going at this time_, she wondered, _and who are those women with him?_ She was just about to get her answer the moment Ventus spotted her on the bridge and ran over to her.

"Luna! What are you doing here?" he asked as he ran over and hugged her, "How did you get here anyway?!"

"Um…I found a way to do that?" Luna replied weakly, "I was looking for you, Ven. What about you? Where were you going?"

"I'm heading to the Forbidden Mountains to retrieve Aurora's heart," Ven answered, "with a little help." He turned to let Luna see the three peculiar ladies fluttering close.

She looked past Ventus to see the three ladies garbed in outfits of red, green, and blue, each of them very distinct in looks and personality. However, what caught Luna's attention were the wings on their backs; it helped her realize that these people joining her friend are actually fairies.

"Ventus, do you know that little girl?" the red fairy asked with a puzzled face.

He turned and answered, "Yeah, I do. Luna, these are the three fairies who have watched over Princess Aurora. Fairies, this is my friend's younger sister, Luna. I know she doesn't look like much, but she's able to defend herself by her own means."

The green fairy came a little closer to Luna, apparently inspecting her before she noted, "Poor dear, you look like you've been caught in the rain for days."

Hilariously, Luna watched as Ven jumped back in shock, and wondered what the green fairy was talking about. But when she pulled her curl over to take a look, she found that there was water dripping from it; then, she looked down to find that she had been soaked to the bone, obviously from her being out in the stormy rain when she was chasing the evil queen in the woodlands earlier. Her face turned bright pink in embarrassment when she realized how she ended up like that.

"How did you get soaking wet, Luna?" Ven exclaimed, "What happened?!"

Luna blushed even further. "Well…I ran through a really bad rainstorm." That wasn't a lie. She just wasn't sure what Ven would say if he heard that she chased an evil woman to the cliffs in a storm.

"Oh, don't worry about it, child. Let me take care of that," the blue fairy said in reassurance.

With a wave of her wand, the blue fairy let out a little magic on Luna, and she was instantly dried off. At least that was one thing Luna was thankful, or it would've been very awkward trekking anywhere else while still wet all over.

"Hey, Luna, why don't you come with us?" Ven asked bluntly, "It would be a lot safer for you than leaving you out here on your own. And besides, you can still use your Shadow Hands, can't you?"

"Okay, then," Luna replied as she shrugged her shoulders, "Which way is the…um, you called it Forbidden Mountain?"

"We know the way. Follow us," the red fairy replied.

Then, Luna followed Ventus and the three fairies – whom she soon identified as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather - into the woods leading to their intended destination; along the way, they had a run in with Unversed that tried to get in their way. But with Ventus's help, Luna was able to play it safe and stay close to him to avoid getting surrounded by any of the monsters. When they reached the entrance path to the Forbidden Mountain, they found that the road there has been blocked by a sick green flame releasing a purple haze out of it.

"Looks like we're stuck," Ventus sighed in disappointment.

"This must be Maleficent's doing," Flora suspected.

"What're we gonna do, Ven?" Luna asked sadly.

Then, Fauna got an idea. "I know." She flew over toward the barred path, waved her wand, and used a spell to make the barrier disappear. When the barrier was fully dispelled, she turned to everyone and said, "Shall we?"

As they journeyed up the Forbidden Mountain, Luna couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable at the sight of the spooky castle up ahead of the road; it made her think about those stories about evil demons or sorcerers that live in morbid places like that. In fact, she was so uneasy about going up there that she practically clung onto Ventus's hand as they went higher up and closed in on the gates.

"I don't like that place," Luna said nervously, "It's too scary."

"It'll be okay, Luna. Just stay close to me and you'll be fine," Ven reassured her gently.

Fortunately, he was true to his word the moment they entered the castle; when several pig-faced guards spotted them coming in, the two worked together to silence them quickly before any more could be alerted to their presence. Luna remained close to Ventus at all times, mostly to maintain her own protection and to avoid getting into too much trouble. It didn't take long for them to reach the entrance to a throne room, where they found more guards keeping watch within the ring.

"Careful. They're Maleficent's," Flora warned them.

"Well, they ain't guardin' nothing," Ven said with a bit of confidence.

Luna looked over toward him with an uncertain face. "What are you going to do?"

He simply smiled at her and said, "You'll see."

All of a sudden, Luna watched Ventus run over and shout out, "Ten-shun! No sleeping on the job!"

His shout caught the attention of the guards, prompting them to attack him. Worried that he might get into trouble, Luna rushed into the ring as well and began unleashing her Shadow Hands against the archers so that her friend wouldn't have many problems with his fight against the spear and axe wielders of the troops. Thankfully, in the midst of the chaos that ensued, she managed to pick up a new trick to mop the floor with the enemies that came their way; to stop the fight; she conjured two large hands and made pounding motions to slam the remnants into the ground. Ventus saw this, and was a little shaken from what he had seen.

"Luna…I'd hate to find out what'll happen if I mess with you now," he said nervously.

"Gee, Ven, you know I'd never raise my hands against you," Luna reassured him, "And besides, Grandpa would've scolded me if I did that."

"Right…" he replied as he thought about it. "Let's keep going."

When they left the throne room, they entered what appeared to be a wide open hall; but when Luna walked over to see if it's possible to move ahead, she got a shocking wake-up call when walls formed from the ground like a barricade.

"What was that?!" she cried out in surprise.

"It would seem that Maleficent created a maze to block the way to Aurora's heart," Flora said as she noticed the walls.

"How are we going to find her heart now?" Merryweather asked worriedly.

"Looks like we're just going to have to get through the maze and find the right path," Ven suspected, "But we'd better be careful in there, or we'll get separated."

"That's even scarier than walking in the castle," Luna mumbled.

Once all of them entered the maze, it became a rather perplexing misadventure; at one point, Luna got separated and had to locate Ventus with Fauna's help since she didn't know anything about mazes. All the same, more guards kept appearing and had to be fought in order to find a way out and reach their main goal. Fortunately, she was able to find the others and learned how the portals worked so that they could reach where they really want to go. So, she had to let her friend guide her to the red portal until they finally made it to the exit and found the chamber where a radiant light was being held prisoner by the same sickly green flame they saw back at the path to the Forbidden Mountain.

As they approached the altar, Luna gasped as she saw the lovely light fluttering around as if unable to escape. _That must be Aurora's heart_, she thought, _that pretty light the fairies were talking about_. Seeing the light trapped like a prisoner made her feel sorry for the princess, even though she doesn't really know her that well. She looked to Ventus, who nodded in agreement and used his Wayward Wind to dispel the flame and set the princess's heart free.

"That should do it, right, Ven?" Luna asked.

"Yep," he replied.

Just as they were about to walk back out, they stopped as something shone in their minds. Luna opened her eyes to see a vision of two people in the forest, a woman and a man. The woman had golden blonde hair and was dressed as a peasant, while the man had brown hair and looked like a noble prince. She could hear their voices as they spoke in a way that was unfamiliar.

_"__Don't you remember? We've met before,"_ the prince said gently.

_"__We…we have?"_ the woman asked nervously.

_"__Why, of course. You said so yourself – once upon a dream,"_ the prince replied sweetly.

Luna watched in awe as the woman gradually lost her fear of the handsome young prince and walked with him in an elegant manner. She could see they were joyful that they have met each other, and soon settled near a tree looking over a small ledge in the woods. It made Luna very grateful that she was only seeing them, and that she didn't have to worry about being heard as she listened to the rest of the conversation.

_"__I never thought I would meet you – outside of my dreams, that is,"_ the woman said.

_"__Who are you? What's your name?"_ the prince asked from curiosity.

_"__Hmm? Oh, my name…Why, it's…"_ the woman was about to reply, but hesitated. _"Oh, oh no, I can't. Goodbye."_

The next thing Luna knew was that the woman began to leave the young man as if she were in a hurry. _Why would the pretty lady run away like that?_ She wondered.

_"__I must see you!"_ the prince pleaded.

_"__I don't know, maybe someday,"_ the woman replied hurriedly.

_"__When? Tomorrow?"_ the prince asked eagerly.

_"__Oh, no: this evening!"_ the woman answered with a bit of joy, _"At the cottage, in the glen."_

The next thing Luna knew was that another flash occurred, and she blinked to find herself brought back to reality. She looked around in bewilderment, wondering what had happened to make her see such a strange event like that; she could've sworn that she felt like she was seeing another person's story being played in her head, but she couldn't wrap her head around who she saw in her vision.

"What did I see?" Luna asked herself.

"Wait, you saw it, too, Luna?" Ventus asked her. It made her believe that he saw it, too, but not with her.

"Yeah, I did," she replied, "but what was that?"

"Aurora's memory," Flora explained as the fairies approached them. "She must've gotten her heart back."

She could see Ventus smiling brightly at that. "So her dream came true!"

"Yes, not long ago," Flora agreed, "Dreams are very strong beliefs. Aurora's led her to her true love."

"I see you hold strong beliefs, too. Don't you, dears?" Fauna asked.

Luna shrugged her shoulders while Ventus nodded in agreement.

"You also have strong lights," Flora pointed out.

Now that was something that really confused Luna; she knew that she possesses light in her heart, but she also remembered how Eraqus told her that her light is protected by a shadowy barrier…so, why would the fairies say that she has a strong light like Ventus?

"Alright; hurry, we can't stay here!" Merryweather interrupted fearfully.

"Uh-huh. I don't wanna meet whoever lives here," Luna agreed.

Everybody hurried out of the hall towards the throne room; but when they got there, they stopped to see someone standing in the middle of the room. From what Luna could see, the person was dressed in a black robe that seemed to billow like a sinister flame with a collar that flared a bit around the neck like bat wings, and had two black horns atop the head; an ebony ring is worn on one hand while the other held onto a staff that looked imposing with a green orb resting at the top.

"Someone has released Aurora's heart. Tell me, children, was it you?" the person asked in a chilling, feminine voice.

When the woman turned around to face them, Luna could clearly see her bony, pale green face staring at them with intimidating eyes that would make anyone's spine freeze up within seconds. _So that's the Maleficent person the fairies were talking about_, she thought.

"Only 'cause you stole it in the first place!" Ventus called her out as he summoned his Keyblade and rushed at her. When he attempted to strike at Maleficent, she vanished into a burst of flame, leaving Ventus baffled at what just happened.

Luna ran in to join him, not wanting to be left out of the problem they're facing. As much as the sinister woman unnerves her, she had a feeling that something about her was very dangerous and not to be taken lightly.

"A Keyblade…You must be Ventus."

Startled by this, the both of them turned around and looked up to find Maleficent had reappeared atop her perch. Concerned that things are going to get ugly, Luna summoned a pair of Shadow Hands at the ready for a fight; however, when she did, the witch's brow raised a bit with curiosity.

"Oh…Are those Shadow Hands?" she asked, "Unless I'm mistaken, are you Luna, the Shadow Mage?"

"Huh? How do you know about me…and the Keyblade?" Ventus demanded.

"And how did you figure out that I'm a Shadow Mage?" Luna asked with equal confusion.

"My powers ensure I'd know of the key to bringing me hearts," Maleficent mused, "Terra gave me a demonstration."

Luna was stunned to hear her brother's name. "You mean…Big Brother was here?"

"Terra…?" Ven asked in a confounded tone. "What…?"

"It took some…persuasion, but all the same, it was he that stole Princess Aurora's heart," she continued.

"That's a lie!" Luna and Ventus yelled at the same time.

Although Luna couldn't understand what Maleficent would have to do with her older brother, she was outraged that such an evil woman would spout such horrible things about Terra, especially in front of her friend. She charged forward and unleashed swarms of Shadow Hands against her, even though the witch had the means to teleport out of the way. Sometimes Maleficent would unleash thunder spells at them or summon her henchmen against Luna and Ventus, hindering them from doing any harm to her. But what made things worse for them was when she appeared in the middle of the room and was starting to cast a strange spell.

"Luna, Ventus! She's casting a spell to paralyze you! Get in the circle!"

The moment she heard that warning, Luna turned around to find the three fairies making a protective circle in a small part of the room; she immediately made a mad dash for the circle, but nearly stumbled on her feet along the way. Fortunately for her, Ventus was able to rush over and toss her into the circle.

"The fairies will keep you safe," he reassured her, "They can help you."

"What about you? You'll get caught!" Luna cried out in worry.

But her words fell on deaf ears when he jumped out of the ring to safety and circled around the pillars; but her attention shifted when she felt a flurry of magic surge through her, and released a blast of light that rendered Maleficent paralyzed from pain. With the witch momentarily stunned, Luna resumed the battle alongside Ventus and the two of them delivered a world of hurt on her until she recovered.

As she fought, though, she couldn't help but notice that anytime she used her Shadow Hands against Maleficent, the witch would act as if she was carefully studying her (and, truthfully, that was rather unnerving for a little girl to deal with). In fact, when Luna went in for a strike, the witch put up a barrier and blocked her attacks from closing in, allowing her to observe without losing her guard.

"How interesting…Your power proves that you are related to Terra," she said with intrigue, "It's a wonder how Xehanort failed to mention that little detail. Well, at least someone else made mention about you, or I wouldn't have known that you'd be here as well."

Luna was perplexed when she heard this. "Someone else…told you about me?"

But she didn't get to ask any more questions when she was knocked back by a burst of magic, falling to the floor where Ventus caught her.

"There's no way Terra would do something like that!" Ven shouted at the witch.

Maleficent sighed at this. "You still don't believe me? That's unfortunate, for he agreed to do so just to keep his dear sister out of danger."

Luna looked over at Ventus in confusion at this. "What do I have to do with this?"

"Luna, Ven, don't be fooled!"

The two glanced over to find Aqua running over to them, certainly shocked at seeing the both of them on the floor. Quickly, she helped them get up, relieved to see them.

"Terra would never do such a thing," Aqua reassured them, "you two know that. Luna, I'm sure your brother would never harm anyone if your life is not threatened."

"You mean it?" Luna asked.

"She's right, Luna," Ventus agreed.

But Maleficent had other ideas. "The truth can be so cruel, even amongst friends and family alike. After all, one will never know the secrets of another person's heart. But I'm sure you know about that…Ventus, Luna, and Aqua."

However tempting her words may be, none of them want to believe what that creepy woman is saying. Luna especially felt certain that such an atrocious act was something he would never do. _My brother would know better than to fall for a coward's lies,_ Luna thought confidently.

"The Master sent me."

Luna snapped out of her thoughts and looked up toward Aqua, questioning what she was saying to them. That is, until she realized that her blue-haired friend was talking about Master Eraqus; but for what reason would she tell them she came here because of their master?

"Let's go home together," she said with almost a gentle hand reaching out to them.

"What about Big Brother?" Luna asked sadly, "He's still out there."

"Sorry, Aqua." Luna and Aqua looked at Ventus with worried looks on their faces. "I can't go home yet. I have to find Terra before it's too late!"

Before anyone could stop him, Ventus ran off from the room at full speed. Fearing the idea of missing him again, Luna took off after him, leaving Aqua alone. By the time she managed to get out of the castle, she found that he was almost about to leave the place entirely; right on cue, her Teleport Brace activated and formed its barrier, and she soared away after her friend.


	7. Chapter 7 - Ch 6: Masked Boy & Guardian

**And this chapter is the reason why I put up the T-rating. Enter a new OC: one who has a rather foul mouth, but means well! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this little unexpected event.**

**I own nothing in Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but flames are not allowed.**

Chapter 6 – The Masked Boy and the Guardian

When Luna finally managed to catch up with Ventus, she found that he was being eerily silent as he rode on his glider. She didn't know what she should do to talk to him, especially after all that happened back on the Forbidden Mountain; whether there is something on Ventus's mind or not is something that even she can't figure out. However, she was pretty sure that he has a lot on his mind, and it didn't help that Maleficent said some very awful things about Terra that she really hated. But before she could speak, she gasped the moment she saw a familiar masked face, unknowingly causing Ven to spot him as well.

"Him again!" she heard him hiss angrily.

"Do you know that guy?" Luna asked in concern.

"C'mon, let's follow him, Luna!" he called to her. As much as she didn't want to, she followed him to a desert-like world that she had never seen before; upon entering that world, all she could see around her was dry ground and dust storms whipping around the jagged rocks. But when they landed in an open area of the desert, the masked boy was nowhere to be found. It made her wonder why they even bothered to come here. Was it all a trick to throw them off course, or did he really lead them here for a reason?

"Where are we, Ven?" Luna asked.

"And where is he hiding?" he wondered uneasily.

Shortly after he asked that question, Luna felt a chill run down her spine as she turned around to see the masked boy standing right behind them. Ventus caught on where Luna is looking, and turned around to see him, too.

"All right, what did you mean about Terra being a different person and Luna being taken away from us?" Ventus shouted at him.

"Ven, what'd ya mean by me being taken away?" Luna asked with a confounded face.

"He said that our separation would let someone steal you away from us, Luna," he replied to her with worry in his eyes, "and I tried to follow Terra to confirm your safety."

The masked boy walked up to them and said without care, "That's exactly what I said, idiot. The Terra you know will be gone forever, and that will leave Luna open for the taking. After all, a young girl like her…she doesn't deserve to be shut away by people who don't understand what she can do."

"Those are the stupidest things I've ever heard!"

"And why would I be taken by anybody?" Luna questioned.

The masked boy didn't respond to either of them, but rose out his hand and a Keyblade appeared. It looked like parts of black and red clockwork gears connected to chains, with two blue slit eyes on the blade and the handle. The boy went into a battle stance, ready to pick a fight with the two of them.

In response, Luna conjured her Shadow Hands while Ventus summoned his Wayward Wind, and they prepared to have a standoff against him.

"Good…let's see what you're both made of," the masked boy mused smugly.

Luna and Ventus made many attempts at striking against him, but the masked boy proved to be tougher and more battle savvy than they are. For starters, whenever they land a hit on him, an illusion was left behind to throw them off and let him attack them from above. However, on Luna's part, whenever she fell for the illusion and was about to be attacked from above, her friend would get in front of her and take the blow instead. Sometimes the masked boy would send an electric spell or a burst of flame at them, and give them a little more trouble.

However, as the fight dragged on, Luna realized that the masked boy's fighting strength differed between her and Ventus: whenever Ven charged in to land a blow, the masked boy would strike him hard and brutally, but when Luna goes in for a hit, it was almost as if he was holding back on her. If anything, he was toying with her for some reason.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Luna demanded, "Why are you going easy on me?!"

"Your guardian's going to have to wake up soon, sweetie," the masked boy answered, "or I might have to use drastic measures to wake it from its slumber. Come out, Shadow Guardian! Show yourself!"

Sad to say, she couldn't understand what he was talking about: Her Shadow Guardian? Wake up? What did he mean?

"Get away from her!"

Luna looked up to see Ventus jumping toward the masked boy, ready to force him away from her. But apparently, the boy knew what he was going to do and turned a complete 180 to land a very nasty blow against him, causing Ventus to fall to the ground out cold. As she looked on in horror at what had happened, she doesn't know that flickers of dark energy have begun to crackle within her shadow.

"Is that all you got? Man, you are worthless," the masked boy said with a bored tone, "I might be going against the Master's orders, but so what? As far as I'm concerned, your job is done."

Using his Keyblade, he charged up a sphere of blue flame and shot it at the unconscious Ventus, unleashing an explosion of flame. Then, he turned around to face the terrified Luna as she started to shake violently in sheer fright.

"Now it's your turn, sweetie. You know that you can't rely on them all the time," he spoke to her like he was giving her an ultimatum, "So c'mon, Luna. Are you going to show your Guardian to me, or should I use force on you as well? Pick your poison."

"No…" Luna saw him raise his Keyblade as if to strike. "No!" A blue flame began to form again. **_"Leave me alone!"_**

All of a sudden, a burst of dark energy flowed out of Luna's shadow, causing both her and the masked boy to watch as a shadowy figure emerged and took on the appearance of a humanoid woman with wavy, crimson red hair that flowed down her back like water and dressed in a billowy, royal purple robe with elongated sleeves barely covering her black beastly claws. When she opened her lids, her eyes are seen to be a piercing violet color, not like other eye colors Luna has ever seen in her life.

The strange woman groaned as she stretched her arms and asked, "Talk about a rude awakening. Who the hell made the alarm bells ring so early?" Luna watched with wide eyes as the woman looked up toward the masked boy, frowned at him, and crossed her arms angrily. "So, it was you who set my master off, eh? Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you a few manners on how to treat a girl, won't I?"

But the masked boy wasn't fazed at the Guardian's anger. "Ah…so this is your Shadow Guardian. Rather foul-mouthed and quick to anger, I see, but she'll do." He pointed his Keyblade at Luna, who jumped back a bit. "Now that she's wide awake, why don't you show me what she can do?"

"Tell me where you got that!" a high-pitched boyish voice interrupted.

Luna, the red-haired woman, and the masked boy turned back to see that someone else had arrived on the battlefield. To the little girl's surprise, she saw an overgrown mouse clad in gray clothes and shoes with a starry designed Keyblade on hand; and a little past him was Ventus, alive and apparently fully healed.

"Keyblades are not to be used to bully anyone," the mouse continued, "especially an innocent little girl! Let me show ya!"

"We both will!" Ventus agreed.

The red-haired woman looked down at Luna. "So, you gonna join this crazy party, kiddo?"

Luna nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh! Ven needs our help."

Thus, the second round against the masked boy began; but this time, Luna got herself a new trump card. With her Shadow Guardian watching her back, she was now able to know where the masked boy was going to show up and try to pounce on her. As per the usual, Luna conjured Shadow Hands to juggle him around while the red-haired woman used her claws to scratch him into mincemeat. Sometimes she joined up with either Ventus or the mouse in order to gang up on him and deal powerful attacks for a brief period of time. Of course, since she had gained her Guardian, the masked boy no longer held back against her; this time, he gave it his all with her while she pulled all the stops to beat him to size.

Soon, when they've beaten him down, they thought that the masked boy had finally been put in his place. But they were proven wrong when he got back up on his feet with ease, prompting everyone to prepare for another possible assault from him.

"Hmph…you win." He said as a dark portal formed around him. "Consider yourself on probation, Ventus. And thanks for the entertainment, Luna."

When he disappeared into the dark portal, Luna dismissed her Shadow Hands while Ventus made his Keyblade vanish. The red-haired woman, on the other hand, merely folded her arms again and hovered beside Luna.

"What does he mean by 'probation'?" Luna asked in confusion.

"And how did you entertain him, Luna?" Ventus asked her with equal bewilderment. Luna shrugged her shoulders with a 'how should I know' face. Then, they turned to the mouse with the Keyblade and the red-haired woman beside them.

"Thanks for before, I owe ya," Ventus said in thanks. "My name's Ventus. What's yours?"

The mouse replied, "I'm Mickey. And who is the little girl with you?"

"I'm Luna," she replied, "I'm Ven's friend. And…" She turned to the red-haired woman next to her. "…that's my Shadow Guardian, I think."

The red-haired woman raised her eyebrow at her. "Why am I not surprised that you don't know me too well? It's Medea."

Luna turned back to Mickey to notice that he had a curious look on his face directed toward Medea, but pushed it aside when she saw the pretty Keyblade he was carrying with him.

"Hey, Mickey, why do you have a Keyblade?" she asked.

"Oh, about that: I've been training under the great Yen Sid," Mickey replied eagerly, "He found out the worlds are in trouble, an' I sorta took off without tellin' him." As he said that, Mickey rubbed his head with a sheepish smile.

"That makes us both. I ran away, too," Ventus admitted bluntly.

"Yeah, me, too," Luna added in embarrassment.

Medea swiftly looked at her with a confounded face. "Are you serious, Luna?! Who the hell allowed you to run off at a young age?!"

Then, Mickey pulled out an unusual star-shaped crystal out of his pocket and explained, "All I hafta do is think it, and this Star Shard will take me anywhere I wanna go. But…" He chuckled nervously. "I still haven't really worked the fine points, like where or when. It's kinda like it kicks in whenever it wants to. But I wouldn't have met you all if it hadn't brought me here."

"Why's that?" Luna asked curiously, "Is it because it noticed us or something?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm certain that it was no accident," Mickey replied, "Maybe the reason the Star Shard brought me here was because it reacted to somethin'."

But before anyone could speak, the Star Shard began to glow brightly in Mickey's hand, causing everyone to cover their eyes from being blinded by its light. Luna could barely make out a faint silhouette of Mickey standing in shock before her vision had completely blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8 - Ch 7: In Radiant Garden

**And here we are: a new chapter! Someone pretty much begged me to update, so here's an update to keep the literary hunger at bay. Yeah, things are gonna get a little problematic for our characters here, and...yeah, you get the idea.**

**I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, leave a review, but no flames allowed.**

Chapter 7 – In Radiant Garden

"Hello…? Are you okay?"

Luna slowly opened her eyes to find a very young girl kneeling down to her, obviously with a concerned face. The girl had auburn red hair and blue eyes, and wore a white shirt with a blue stripe across the top and flower patterns on the hem edges over a pink skirt; around her neck, she wore a white charm necklace, and on her feet were white shoes lined with pink and purple. She was holding a small bouquet of flowers in hand, giving Luna a reason to believe that she must have been picking flowers for someone.

"Where…? Where am I?" Luna asked groggily.

"Where are you? You're in the Radiant Garden," the red-haired girl replied with a smile, "I saw you near the gate all sprawled on the ground, and I was afraid you got hurt. So, I came over to see if you're okay."

Luna sat up and looked around to figure out what the girl was talking about; sure enough, she saw that she was near a gigantic castle structure not far from her position, and a ways away, there's a town nearby with many colorful flowers and fountains that make the town very beautiful. It made her wonder how she got teleported to this world in the first place; the last thing she remembered was a flash from Mickey's Star Shard, and then she blacked out. However, Luna was quite sure that her Teleport Brace didn't activate when that happened.

_"__So, the sleeping beauty finally wakes up? Good thing a little kid found you rather than that rude boy in a mask,"_ Medea said sarcastically in Luna's head.

Luna jumped at this and mentally asked, 'You can talk to me in my head?'

_"__Of course I can! It's one of the perks of being a Shadow Guardian,"_ Medea replied to her, _"Ah, well, since it's your first time, I'll go easy on ya for a little while. The next time I wanna talk t' ya, I'll either give ya a warning or I'll come out of your shadow. Just keep an eye out, you get me?"_

"What's the matter?"

Luna turned to the girl, and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's nothing. Say, can you tell me who you are?"

The red-haired girl grinned at her. "Sure. I'm Kairi. And what's your name?"

"Luna."

"That's a nice name," Kairi said happily, "Now that we know each other, we can be friends, right?"

As she looked at Kairi, she somehow felt something warm radiating from her. Before Luna could ask anything, she turned to see the Unversed suddenly appear in front of them and posed to attack. Kairi screamed in fright when she saw the monsters, prompting Luna to summon her Shadow Hands and swipe at them quickly before they could even think about ganging up in them.

"C'mon, let's get away from here!" Luna cried out.

Instinctively, Luna grabbed Kairi's available hand and the two of them ran up the stairs towards the castle, hoping that she could find somebody who can protect her new friend from the monsters. But that proved fruitless when they encountered more Unversed trying to surround them, forcing them to run everywhere until the two girls were cornered to a wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Luna saw Aqua coming up the stairs and hurrying to their aid.

"Luna, over here!" she called.

"Okay! Hang on!" Luna called out, "C'mon, Kairi!"

Luna led the frightened Kairi over to where Aqua is, and put herself in front so as to keep her safe. Unbeknownst to her, Kairi touched Aqua's Keyblade in the midst of her fear, but Luna was more worried about keeping her out of harm's way.

"I can sense her light…" she heard Aqua wonder.

"That's strange. I thought I felt something in her, too," Luna confessed.

But their chat was cut off when a Flood was about to leap up and attack the girls, until Mickey suddenly showed up and took it out with one swing of his Keyblade. Luna was really glad to see him after that weird light show she had experienced back in the desert world, while Aqua was stunned to see him (but didn't know who he was).

"Mickey!" Luna exclaimed with joy.

"You've got to get that girl to safety!" Mickey ordered them.

But Aqua was still confused at what she was seeing. "Who are you, and why do you have a Keyblade?"

"There's no time to explain! We've got to stop these things!" Mickey told her.

"You heard Mickey: get her to safety!" Luna insisted stubbornly.

Her words managed to get Aqua to pick up Kairi and run down the stairs with her, allowing Luna to run over to Mickey and join him in the fight. But within moments, Aqua rejoined them with her Keyblade ready for combat.

"You're joining, too?" Luna asked.

"I'm not going to let you fight them alone," Aqua replied.

"If you say so…" Luna said with a shrug.

"Let's get 'em!"

When Mickey and Aqua rushed right into the fray to fight off the Unversed, Luna had a different idea in mind. _Maybe this is a chance to see what my Guardian can do_, she thought.

"Come out, Medea!" she commanded out loud.

As if it had a will of its own, Luna's shadow stretched out in front of her and changed shape until Medea emerged into a fighting stance, her human hands shifting into elongated black claws.

"So, you feel ready to let me help kick some monster ass?" Medea asked eagerly.

"I'll need all the help I can get," Luna replied as she hurried into the fray.

With that, Luna and Medea jumped into the fight and began wiping out the problematic Unversed that were deemed a threat alongside their allies. In the midst of this, though, she didn't realize that Aqua was in shock at seeing Medea since she had never seen her Guardian. But it wasn't until the two girls were back to back when Luna got to hear what her friend had to say.

"Luna, who – or what – is that thing that's fighting with us?" Aqua asked, "I've never seen a monster like that."

"Actually, she's my Shadow Guardian," Luna replied quickly, "Her name's Medea. I don't know how to tell the details yet."

In actuality, she does know what happened that caused her Guardian to awaken, but she was too afraid to tell her who was responsible for inciting Medea's emergence from dormancy. How could she tell her own friend that a masked boy pretty much forced her to reveal more of her Shadow Mage powers than she was allowed to, especially since it was because of him that she got out of the Land of Departure in the first place? She decided to push her fears aside for the moment, and concentrate on the battle she's fighting in.

Throughout the skirmish, Luna frequently joined up with either Aqua to provide the semi-physical support or with Mickey to perform powerful moves that decimated hordes of enemies within seconds. Medea acted as the big gun against the more difficult Unversed, particularly against the hourglass-shaped monsters or the ones with the valves on their backs, by slashing them apart with her Black Claws. With the four of them working together, they got the job done fast enough to know that the coast was clear.

Then, Luna looked over to find Kairi near the top of the stairs and ran over to her to see if she's alright.

"Are you okay, Kairi?" she asked, "Those bad monsters are gone now."

"Uh-huh. I'm okay now," Kairi replied with a small smile, "Thanks, Luna."

"That's fine. Now that we're safe, let's go meet my friends," Luna suggested, "I think you'll like them."

Gently, she took Kairi's hand and led her over to where Aqua and Mickey were introducing each other until she saw her blue-haired friend turn her attention to Kairi with a curious look about her face.

"Luna and I sensed light within that girl," she heard Aqua referring to Kairi. "You think that's why they attacked her?"

"Yep, I think ya both are absolutely right. If ya ask me, she must be somebody pretty extraordinary," Mickey replied confidently.

Luna couldn't help but look at her red-haired friend and wonder if Mickey was right about what she had felt earlier. _Now that I think about it, maybe that's why she's so innocent and nice, kinda like me_, Luna thought. It was a rather pleasant thought that she might be something that bore no darkness in her, unlike other people she had encountered.

"I think you're right. She must be someone that needs to be protected," Aqua agreed.

"I know that, too, 'cause I did try to help her," Luna pointed out.

Just as Mickey made an offer for them to join forces against the threat, a glow was spotted from within his clothes. That was when Luna remembered the last time it happened, and she passed out because of it; the next thing she knew was that Mickey disappeared and began warping away, but not without a word of reassurance that they'll see him again soon.

But then she was snapped out of her daze when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see that Kairi was holding out the flowers she picked toward both her and Aqua.

"Uh…Kairi, are you giving those to us?" Luna asked.

Kairi nodded with a bright smile. "I picked these for both of you."

Luna smiled brightly as she took her small bouquet of flowers from Kairi, and looked over to Aqua, who also was touched by her sweet gesture and took her own bouquet into her hands.

"My name is Kairi," said sweet Kairi, "It's nice to meet you two."

"Nice to meet you, too," Aqua said in response, "My name is Aqua, and I'm sure you already know Luna." Kairi nodded at that. "Kairi, about that light…"

An elderly voice called out Kairi's name, and Luna looked over to see an old woman coming up the steps, apparently searching for her. Thankfully, it made sense when her red-haired friend called her 'grandma', allowing Luna to realize that it was a family member that came for her. But before she turned to leave, Aqua asked her to wait a moment and touched her fingers on the pendant around Kairi's neck, causing it to glow a bit; Luna wondered what she could be doing that was important.

"I just cast a magic spell on you. One day, when you are in trouble, your light will lead you to another; someone to keep you safe," Aqua told her.

This puzzled Luna there for a second; why would she use that spell on Kairi unless she has a reason to do so? That was when she recalled how there's light in her heart, and mentally slapped herself for forgetting such an important detail like that so quickly.

All the same, she waved goodbye to Kairi as her red-haired friend walked away with her grandma, asking her to tell her a story that she apparently had heard many times but still enjoyed hearing anyway. As she heard about the tale of the light and the darkness, she couldn't help but hear the old woman tell her grandchild that there is always a light to guide her through the darkness and to believe in the light. Luna felt very sure that she never heard Grandpa Eraqus say that, as far as she was concerned. But then, she couldn't help but wonder how she fits since she has light and darkness in her; she's a person who can control the shadows, yet bears light in her heart. Is there anyone who could accept her for who she is if said person learned about her heritage and her identity?

"…Something tells me, we didn't run into her by accident," Aqua mused aloud.

Luna turned to Aqua with a positive look. "I kinda got that feeling when I met her, too. She was very nice."

"Did you meet Kairi, too?" Aqua asked as they began to walk down the stairs, "Where did you meet her?"

"Well…the first thing I remembered after blacking out from that glowing shard thing was seeing her next to me, and she was worried that I was hurt," Luna replied, "She found me unconscious by the gates, and checked to see if I'm okay. Kairi was very nice to me, even though it was her first time meeting me. When those monsters tried to attack us, I was trying to keep her safe until you came and found us."

"That explains why you were with her when I saw the Unversed chasing you," Aqua speculated.

"Yeah…I was trying to protect her from those monsters," Luna confessed sheepishly, "That; and I'm still not used to using my Guardian yet."

Medea rolled her eyes at this. "Uh-huh. Says the little girl who hangs around runaway boys and lets bullies pressure you into doing what they want."

"Medea…" Luna groaned in exasperation.

But before any more explanations can be given, both girls heard something flying by, and turned to see an Unversed soaring toward an unknown destination. They gasped in horror, thinking that it might be heading off somewhere to attack harmless civilians, and began to chase after it.

"Luna, it might get very dangerous once we find it," Aqua said to her as they ran, "You might want to stay someplace safe."

"No way am I gonna do that, Aqua!" Luna insisted, "I wanna help, too! Besides, I wanna know if Ven and Big Brother are okay." She glanced at Medea, who was hovering right behind her. "Medea, can you stay in my shadow until I need you?"

"Now, hold on. You are you want me to stay hidden for a while?" Medea protested, until she saw Luna give her a serious gaze, "Alright, alright, I'll lay low until you need me. Just don't expect me to stay quiet for long."

As Medea disappeared back into her shadow, Luna continued on with Aqua, and they found themselves meeting with Terra and Ven almost at the same time. Before anyone could ask questions to one another, all four of them looked up to see three forms of Unversed gather together and merge into an armored colossal monstrosity that's much bigger than any other enemy they've ever seen.

Immediately, the four jumped into the fight and began to team up to take down this powerful abomination. Aqua fired different spells at it whenever she could, while Terra and Ventus would charge in directly to land strong physical strikes against it. On Luna's part, she kept summoning Shadow Hands all over the place to unleash swift strikes against it, occasionally using the hands to hold certain parts of the monster down so that her friends and brother could go in for an opening. However, that was a challenge since it sometimes split itself into different modes of attacking, making the fight more difficult to finish. But with enough patience and a lot of healing, they were able to take it apart piece by piece until only its head remained.

At that moment, Luna seized the opportunity to prevent the head from attacking them; she conjured two giant Shadow Hands that wrapped around each other and held the monster in one place.

"Go for it, guys!" she called out.

At her command, the three friends charged in for the attack and performed a finishing blow on the tightly bound head segment, causing it to fall apart and vanish into purplish mist. Luna smiled at the job well done, and joined up with everyone as they looked relieved to have succeeded in fighting together.

"We make a good team," Aqua said proudly.

"But we couldn't have gotten far without you, my sister," Terra added as he looked to Luna.

"Aw, I was just lending a hand," Luna protested.

"Sure do." Ventus agreed happily. Then, he perked a bit like he remembered something. "Oh! Yeah, I got us these tickets!"

Luna looked on with curiosity as Ventus pulled out four cute, cartoony tickets out of his pocket and showed them to the group. _What has Ven been doing while I was with Kairi_, Luna wondered, _and where did he get them?_ However, she wasn't the only one who was confused about this: Terra and Aqua were puzzled at it, too.

"For what?" Terra asked.

"What are those things, Ven?" Luna asked as she tried to get a good look.

"Lifetime passes to Disney Town," Ventus explained as he passed out one ticket to each of them, "He said to…" He paused a moment, and showed a disappointed frown. "…He said to take two grown-ups."

Luna looked up at Terra and Aqua, who looked at each other with confused faces at being called 'grown ups'. As far as she was concerned, they shouldn't really count as actual grown-ups since they haven't gotten together yet (and she recalled that they're still in their 'teen years' as her brother would always put it). Although, the two did chuckle a bit until they calmed down.

"Listen, Ven, we need to get you and Luna home…" Aqua started to talk.

"It's okay, Aqua. Trust me, that guy in the mask is history," Ventus reassured them, "He'll never badmouth Terra again, and absolutely not in front of Luna."

All of a sudden, Terra reacted and walked over to both Ventus with shock evident on his face. "You saw the boy in the mask?" He turned to Luna with concern. "You saw him, too?"

Luna nodded nervously. "Uh-huh. Why, Big Brother?"

Then, for a moment, she heard her brother mutter the name 'Vanitas', and was quite sure that Ventus didn't hear it; but she did see on Aqua's face that she might've heard something. What she might be thinking, Luna wasn't sure, but she didn't like where it was going. She felt her brother's hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see him stare at her with affectionate worry over her.

"Luna, you and Ven have to return home together," he said to her.

"Go home? Why?" Luna asked as her brows furrowed in confusion.

"But I want to come with you," Ventus protested, "and we can't leave Luna alone. She needs us."

"You can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us," Terra explained to them, "I don't want either of you to get hurt."

Aqua turned to Terra with a skeptic look on her face. "And what is this dangerous task, Terra? It's doesn't sound like what the Master told you to do."

"I may be taking a different path, but I'm fighting the darkness," Terra tried to reason with her.

"I'm not so sure." Aqua objected. "I've been to the same worlds you've been, and I've seen what you've done. You shouldn't push so close to the darkness."

Luna, horrified at what she was hearing, cried out, "How can you say that?!"

"Listen to yourself, Aqua!" Ventus agreed in equal horror, "Terra would never…"

"You mean you were spying on me?" Terra interrupted with a very hurt tone in his voice.

Luna looked up with fear as she saw Terra feeling like he had been heavily offended by Aqua's words, unable to believe that all this was happening right in front of her.

"Was that what you've been told to do? The Master's orders?" he asked harshly.

Aqua looked away, as if unsure of what to say to him; on the other hand, Ventus was deeply hurt by what he was hearing. On Luna's part, though, she felt like she was about to burst into a meltdown at any moment, especially since she can feel tears starting to develop in her eyes.

"I get it."

Luna quickly turned to see her brother starting to walk away from everyone, obviously trying to keep his pain from coming out completely.

"Terra…" Ven started to go after him.

"Just stay put!" she heard her brother shout. "I'm on my own now, okay?"

"Terra, the Master had no reason to distrust you!" Aqua tried to implore in vain, "He's just worried about you!"

But it proved to be futile; he had already gone far away from them. Now Luna could see Ventus feeling the effects of the painful tension, and he looked at their friend with a hurt face.

"You're awful, Aqua," he said sadly.

"So now you know the truth," she replied, "But the master loves Terra, and you know that, too."

But Ventus was not buying it. "Were you also 'ordered' to take me and Luna home, too?"

The moment he asked that question, Aqua looked taken aback at that. Her confused face was just enough to make Ventus upset at her.

"Now that you've become a Keyblade Master," he continued, "you've let it go to your head."

Then, Ventus ran off from the place after Terra, leaving only Luna and Aqua alone. However, Luna was beginning to lose control over herself because of what she had been hearing the entire time; she didn't want to believe what Aqua had been saying about her brother. She couldn't believe that one of her own friends would doubt him when he only wanted to protect those who are dear to him.

"Luna, are you…" Aqua was about to speak.

But Luna finally snapped, and yelled out furiously, "NO! I'm not okay! How could you, Aqua?! How could you say such horrible things about my brother when he was only trying to think about us and trying to fight for our sakes?! I've had hopes that my brother can do great things for us, and for you, and this is how you repay him! You say mean things to him, and you don't even think about how he's feeling!" By this point, tears were already spilling out of her as she kept yelling out loud. "I'm not gonna listen to you anymore! I don't want to hear you badmouth anybody ever again! I hate you, you hear me?! I HATE YOU!"

Unable to stick around any longer, Luna ran off in rage as fast as her legs could carry her until she was far away from the one person she didn't want to be with. _I don't wanna be around anybody who says mean things about Big Brother_, she kept thinking over and over, _Never ever!_ Without even realizing it, she found herself all alone in an alleyway and sat down in a crouching position. She didn't want to be found by anybody; she wanted to be left alone. All the pain and pressure was just too much for her, and she couldn't stand it.

_"__Jeez, Luna, did ya have to yell at her like that?"_ Medea asked within her shadow, _"Don't ya think you might've gone a tad too far? She probably thinks that you really do hate her by now, and feels guilty."_

"I don't want to see Aqua!" Luna answered angrily, "She was so mean to Big Brother, so she doesn't deserve my respect anymore."

_"__Is that what you really think, or is that your tantrum talking?"_ Medea asked; unimpressed with how she's behaving.

The moment Medea asked that question, Luna suddenly felt ashamed at how she had been acting in front of someone she loved. Perhaps her Guardian was right: she did let her temper get the best of her, and it made her say things that most likely hurt Aqua's feelings without thinking about the consequences of her behavior. So…what should she do? How can she face Aqua if she said she didn't want to listen to her? What should she say? That's when she thought about her brother; maybe she could talk to him about it and ask his advice.

But just when she got up and was about to walk away, she felt two hands reach out behind her, cover her mouth, and grab her arms. She tried to let out a scream, but her voice was muffled, and she felt herself being pulled away from the alley to a different part of the garden.

"Hey, now don't give me any trouble, little angel," a sleazy male voice warned her, "After all, to get to the guy with the Keyblade, I need a bit more leverage. And you know what? You get to be part of the show! How d'ya like that?"

Although she couldn't completely see who was responsible for grabbing her so rudely, Luna was able to look up just enough to see a male with shoulder-length black hair in a soldier-like uniform. Around his neck, he wore a rugged, worn-out scarf, but that wasn't what she didn't deem important to know. The thing that scared her most was the way his face looked; to her, his eyes were like a predator out to ensnare its prey, and it didn't help that he had a smile that pretty much had 'I'm gonna have some fun scaring the hell out of you' written all over him, making her even more frightened than she already is.

The next thing Luna knew was that she was being carried away into the lower parts of the castle, and something was being tied around her body very tightly as if to prevent escape. Then, she felt her body being moved off the ground and far off; that was when she looked down to see that she was dangling very high above the water with no means to be able to save herself from a one-way fall to her death. Luna shrieked in terror at this, and began kicking her legs in a panic.

"No, no! I don't wanna die!" she screamed, "Let me go! Let me go and leave my brother alone!"

"Let you go, you said? As if!" the man replied like he's not interested, "I got business to do, and you're going to help me out on that. After all, what would a man do if a little kid's life is on the line?"

When she realized that the creepy man was going to use her to lure her brother out, she couldn't help but let out tears and shake violently in fear. _Please don't fall for whatever that bad man's doing_, she pleaded in her thoughts, _I don't wanna see you lose it 'cause of me_.


	9. Chapter 9 - Ch 8: Hostage and Rescued

**You know what? Just for a little bonus, I decided to upload the second phase. Just to see what happens. Enjoy!**

**I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts except for the OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 8 – Hostage and Rescued

As Luna hung high above the water, she couldn't help but fear what will happen to her if that evil man would get his way with her brother. For that matter, she couldn't believe that she let herself get kidnapped so easily; if anything, she was a fool for not being attentive to her surroundings, letting her emotions cloud her awareness of her environment.

"What am I gonna do?" she whispered fearfully, "I can't call Medea like this, and I'm up so high that it scares me. But I don't want Big Brother to be forced to do something he doesn't want to just to save me." Her breaths became faster as her panic grew. "Please, please, please, don't do this to me! I don't want Big Brother to be in pain. I don't wanna be used for bad reasons. I just wanna get out of here!"

But then she heard someone's footsteps coming into the place, making her try to turn her head to find out who's coming. To her horror, she saw that it was her brother, Terra, entering the place as if he were looking for something. As he approached the platform and looked around, her breaths began to accelerate so much that she feared she would be heard. But she couldn't hold back a whimper as she watched him turn around behind him and gasp in shock.

"Master Xehanort!"

Luna tried to turn her head to see what he was talking about, but could only see from the corner of her eye the same creepy old man that she had seen a bit back at the Land of Departure. _That scary old man got caught, too?_ Luna questioned in her head, _what was he doing here anyway?_ But she didn't have time to answer her own questions when she saw the same man who kidnapped her come down the path to confront Terra.

"That old coot knows how to take punishment," the man said as he walked in with two strange weapons in hand, "just like I know how to deal it out."

Despite where she's hanging, Luna could tell that her brother is getting very angry at the man for his attitude as he summoned his Keyblade.

"You monster!" she heard Terra growled, "What are you after? And what have you done to my sister?"

But the man just kept talking to him like he doesn't care. "That thing you got there – that's called the Keyblade, isn't it? It seems like everyone has it these days…even grandpa there." He nodded over to the chain-bound Xehanort. "When I nabbed him, he told me all about it – what that thing can do. How can I not want one? By the way, regarding – huh, what did you call her – your sister, she's hanging real high above the water with a one-way drop to a watery grave, if you catch my drift."

That was when she saw the man point his weapon in her direction, causing Terra to turn around to his left side and gasp aloud in pure horror as he saw her hanging by a rope over the waters.

"Luna!"

"Big Brother, get me outta here!" she screamed as she kicked the air violently.

She could tell that her brother was furious that the man had threatened her life, but she knew that there's no way he would surrender his Keyblade to him without a fight.

"Sorry, but you'll find they're picky about their owners," he said with a barely repressed fury.

"If that old man said was right, that makes you Keyblade Master material, right?" the man continued, "So, if I defeat you, that makes me the key-slinger, if you catch my drift. Not the most polite way to go about it, but what can you do?" Terra was about to charge forward, but the man stopped him. "Ah-ah, one wrong step, the coot goes boom and the kiddo goes plummeting. You think I'm gonna fight fair? As if! That key's too powerful for us to go mano-a-mano."

Luna could only watch helplessly as the man shoots a series of energy blasts at Terra while he tried to block the blows with his Keyblade, most likely not wanting to get hurt for her sake; but soon, he was knocked back and was sent crashing onto the floor of the platform. She wished that she could be down there, helping her brother, but she can't since her body was bound tightly, so she can't use her Shadow Hands to fight back or save herself.

"For a Keyblade Master, you're not very – what's the word – good?" the man said in disappointment.

"You leave my brother alone, you bad man!" Luna shouted angrily.

"Whoa, now, who asked you to talk back at your elders, angel?" the man retorted as he got distracted.

However, when Luna distracted her kidnapper, this apparently gave the old man a chance to get Terra to fight back.

"What are you doing, Terra? Fight him!" Xehanort shouted from afar.

Luna saw the worry on her brother's face when he heard this. "But Master, you'll - !"

"Never mind me! You must fight! You can't let this ruffian win," the old man protested, "Think of Master Eraqus, of your sister – the shame he and your fellow pupils would be forced to bear, the inability to protect your sister from all manner of evils that would dare threaten her! Use the Keyblade!"

She looked on as she saw her brother get up, and prepare to really fight for their lives. She could sense that he is very angry at the man for holding her and Xehanort hostage, especially since she could feel a powerful energy vibrating all around his body.

Luna watched as the battle began with the kidnapper teleporting to another part of the room and attempting to snipe at Terra from afar with round after round of energy shots, until he finally chose to go in himself. Sometimes she saw the man shoot at him while somehow standing upside down, reloading when he's run out of shots. But Terra would make comebacks with powerful air strikes and a Gravity spell or two, with a Cure when he's in need of emergency healing. However, she couldn't help but notice that the man was pulling out all the stops to make sure Terra doesn't win, especially when he occasionally would charge up a shot and use that to try and blow him off his feet; or he would move at superhuman speed while firing off a volley of shots to counterattack. But the more that man attempted to snipe at him, the more Terra would figure out where he's shooting from until he finally got wise to him and deflected his shots back at him until he got a dose of his own medicine.

Then, a shadowy aura flickered around Terra, and he unleashed a blast of dark energy at the malicious sniper that hit him at his right eye, followed by a second one that scarred his face and soared on to free Xehanort from his bindings. But as a last-ditch effort, the man fired a shot at the rope holding onto Luna and she began to make a rapid fall downwards.

Seeing that she was starting to drop very fast, Luna began to scream. Everything happened so fast that she feared that she was done for; but then she heard something flying down to her, and she felt herself being caught by an arm. She looked over to see that her brother had changed his Keyblade into a glider, and that he managed to save her from plummeting to her death; the next thing she knew, she felt herself being pulled into the safety of her brother's arms and brought back up to the platform safely.

Luna had never been so terrified in her entire life, but she was also very glad that her brother had saved her when she needed him most. When she was freed from the ropes that bound her, she couldn't help but squeeze her brother so tightly like he was her safety line, not wanting to be with anybody else for the moment. At the same time, she couldn't help crying her eyes out because she never had her life threatened before.

"I was so scared when that bad man made me hang there!" she cried as she wailed into her brother's chest, "I thought he was gonna kill me!"

"There, there…Luna, it's alright now. It's okay, you're safe," Terra whispered as he kept trying to comfort her, "That man's not going to hurt you again."

Luna sniffled as she wiped away her overflowing tears. "Okay, but…I did something very bad, too, Big Brother."

Before she could tell him what she had done, she looked behind her and saw Xehanort approaching them; it convinced her that he might to want to talk about something important to Terra.

"Luna, could you wait upstairs for a moment?" Terra asked, "I just need to speak with Master Xehanort for a moment. Then we'll talk."

"Okay," Luna agreed and walked away from the place.

Although shaken from her ordeal as a hostage, Luna walked up the stairs to the outer gardens and sat down near the entrance to the lower grounds. Once she did, though, Medea emerged from her shadow and took a seat next to her, her face clearly indicating that she wanted to know what had happened to her when she wasn't around.

"What the hell happened, girl?" she asked, "I saw ya being dangled over a dangerous spot, but I couldn't do anything t' save ya. Your brother got you out of the problem?"

"A bad man tried to use me as 'leverage' or something against my brother," Luna replied, "but he failed to get what he wanted and tried to send me into the water. I was so scared that I thought Big Brother wouldn't save me."

Medea looked away with a frown on her face. "Damn! Talk about a coward's tactic. If I ever see the guilty man responsible for kidnapping you without my knowledge, I'm gonna make him pay for his attempt on your life in spades. Hell, I'll make him wish that he was the one who asked for a watery grave!"

But before Luna could scold her Guardian for her language, she heard footsteps, and turned around to see Terra coming up the stairs; however, when he came close, he stopped and stared in confusion at Medea, who simply looked up at him with a 'what's your problem' look on her face.

"Luna…you mind telling me who that woman is with you?" he asked.

"She's my Shadow Guardian, Medea," Luna replied, "If she acts cranky at you, don't worry about it. She just woke up from her sleep very early."

Terra didn't say anything about it as he contemplated what she had explained, but then shook his head dismissively. He then took a seat next to her, and Luna watched as she waited for what he might intend to say to her.

"Luna…why weren't you with Aqua?" he asked her.

When she heard that question, Luna lowered her head in shame. "I…When you went off on your own, I got mad at Aqua. I yelled at her." She felt her tears build up again. "I told her I didn't wanna listen to her anymore and that…that I hated her."

As she confessed her wrongdoing, she glanced up to see her older brother gasp in shock at what she had done. Then, she saw him frown in disappointment at her, making her remember how she acted and how she didn't think about the consequences of her words against one of her dear friends.

"Why did you yell at her?" Terra asked in a scolding tone.

"I thought she said mean things to you, things that sounded like she thinks you've done some bad stuff the moment you left," Luna replied guiltily, "and I got mad at her for that. It made me think that she listened to that horned woman's bad words about you, and believed them without thinking it through. That's why I yelled at her and ran off…"

Once she felt her voice trail off, she slipped into silence, expecting to receive punishment for misbehaving and impulsively accusing someone dear to her of committing a serious wrongdoing. But rather than getting her punishment, she felt her brother put his hand on her shoulder, and gazed up to see him looking at her with a kind of pity. Why would her brother pity her when he knows that she did something she shouldn't have?

"Luna…there's something I want to tell you," Terra said somberly, "Something that I hadn't told anyone."

"Is it about that horned woman?" Luna asked.

Medea suddenly turned to them in confusion. "Wait, what? What's this about a horned woman? What's this got to do with Luna?"

Terra glanced at Medea for a moment before looking back at Luna. "When I was at the Enchanted Dominion, I had a run-in with Maleficent. She wanted me to use my Keyblade to unlock the sleeping princess's heart, but I had no intention to do so. She tried convincing me to helping her with the knowledge she somehow got about the keys, but when her sweet talk failed, she tried to make mention of you in order to mess with me. The witch tried to convince me to unlock Aurora's heart in exchange for sparing you of other potential dangers that could threaten you. But when I refused again, she…she used some kind of magic on me, and..."

"…She made you unlock her heart, didn't she?" Luna guessed when she put two and two together. Her brother's silence only confirmed her fears. "That's just awful, Big Brother. That horrible witch shouldn't have brought me into your problems. I didn't even know her until I fought through her castle with Ven, and when we did meet her, she somehow figured out that I'm a Shadow Mage, too."

When she finished what she had said, she unexpectedly felt his arms around her, hugging her tightly with affection. Not knowing what else to do, she reciprocated and hugged him back (even though she could only reach his neck). It lasted a good while until he finally let her go as if he didn't want to smother his dear sister in his grasp.

"Whatever you went through was not your fault," he reassured her tenderly, "But I think you do owe Aqua an apology for how you behaved. You should go find her, and tell her that you're sorry for yelling at her without thinking things over."

"But what if she doesn't want to take the apology?" Luna asked skeptically.

"She'll accept your apology, Luna. You know that she might need assurance that you didn't mean to speak ill of her," Terra insisted gently, "Remember what Grandpa would always tell you, Moonflower? You never know whether your apologies can be accepted unless you try."

Although she still wasn't sure of herself, Luna couldn't resist that comforting smile her brother was giving her; she could tell that he believed she can gather up the courage to find Aqua and admit her wrongs to her the right way. It helped her that she did talk to her brother about the problem since she wouldn't know what to do on her own.

"Hey, girly, we'd better get our butts moving if we wanna find the busty woman and have ya say you're sorry that badly," Medea pointed out sarcastically.

Luna blushed deeply as she turned to her guardian. "Medea…! Don't call her that! Maybe you should tell her what YOU did as well as me!"

But her Guardian was not listening to a word she was saying, and simply started to fly away from her while laughing aloud. Frustrated at this, Luna began to chase after Medea to the central square only to screech to a halt at a disturbing sight: from a distance, she saw Aqua fighting against the masked boy – whom she now could name as Vanitas – in a one-on-one battle. Fearing that Aqua would be overwhelmed, Luna rushed into the fray and summoned a Shadow Hand to block Vanitas's oncoming attack. Fortunately for her, he immediately jumped away from the emerging hand; unfortunately, this meant that his attention had turned towards her.

"Well, hello there, sweetie. I was wondering when we were going to meet up again," Vanitas said in a mockingly sweet voice, "What have you been doing while I wasn't looking?"


	10. Chapter 10 - Ch 9: Apologies & Friends

**Okay, I think I've waited a bit too long, so here's another chapter...in order to wrap up the Radiant Garden section. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! **

**Oh, and btw, those who've been reading my work, hope you've been enjoying what I've offered.**

**I don't anything of Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, leave a review, but flames are not allowed here.**

Chapter 9 – Apologies and New Friends

Luna blushed heavily the moment she heard him ask that question; on the other hand, Medea was growling angrily behind her.

"W-Why would…?" Luna stammered nervously.

"Stay away from her!"

She snapped out of her confusion when she saw Aqua running towards Vanitas as if to strike at him, but he turned back around and fired a dark Gravity spell at her, rendering her blue-haired friend unable to move. Then, Luna turned back to find that Vanitas had disappeared, but felt a chill down her spine as she felt a hand brushing her shoulder; she turned her head and saw him standing right behind her while caressing her hair and rubbing her arm.

"Don't think I wasn't paying attention to you, because I've seen the wonderful things you've done the moment you left home," he said seductively, "I've seen how you discovered who is filled with malice in the Castle of Dreams, which I'll admit was rather impressive…though I wonder why you warned that blonde woman about it, but whatever. I've seen how the wicked queen's wrath on Snow White in the Woodlands had aroused your desire for vengeance like a burning fire, and made her pay the price for overlooking the danger coming to her. And I've seen how you handled your Guardian's strength when a mere stranger was in danger, which I'll admit was rather beautiful, but would've been a better work of art if…others…were not involved with you."

Luna was stunned when she heard him say all this. "You…you've been watching me this entire time…? I thought that you'd only be interested in Ventus. I'm nothing to whoever you're working for."

"True, but that doesn't mean I can't have an interest in you, too," Vanitas replied, "Even though you may not be a Keyblade wielder or anything too special, I can see something unique with you that nobody can ever replicate." He moved his hands down to her chin and coaxed her to look up at him. "Trust me, sweetie. That old man at home is holding you back, no matter what others say about him. Unless you find a better use for your Shadow Hands, you're just not gonna get anywhere on your little journey."

"What do you want from me?" Luna demanded weakly.

"Now, now, all good things come to those who wait, little girl," he answered as he let go of her, "If I tell you right now, then that'd ruin the drama."

All of sudden, Luna heard a growl of pain from him as he stumbled; the both of them turned around to find a furious Medea had formed her Black Claws and was the cause of the pain inflicted against Vanitas. However, because Medea had successfully distracted Vanitas, nobody realized that Aqua had managed to break free of the Gravity spell and laid a very hard smack down on him. When he looked out cold, the trio carefully approached him and looked over him with unease. In fact, Aqua was just about to reach for the mask until he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter that startled all three of them at once, allowing him to get up and make a portal.

"Not bad, ladies," he said in the direction of Medea and Aqua. "Congratulations…for surprising me. Just to be nice, I'll keep you around. It doesn't hurt to have a backup…or two." He looked over toward Luna. "We'll have a private chat later, Luna. I'll be waiting."

When Vanitas disappeared into the darkness, Luna, Medea, and Aqua were left standing in the square with confused faces.

"What the hell was he talking about?" Medea muttered.

But Luna had something else on her mind; she had to apologize to Aqua about how she behaved earlier. As much as she wanted to stay mad at her, she knew that her anger had gotten her into serious trouble, and she had to correct the mistake she made. Her Guardian had a lot of awareness despite having woken up only recently, and her brother had high confidence that she can admit her own faults.

"Hey, Aqua…I wanna say I'm sorry," Luna said shyly. This caught Aqua's attention. "I got mad at you, and I yelled at you without thinking about your feelings. Did I hurt you?"

Aqua smiled softly at her, and knelt down to her level. "Well…you shocked me back there, and I did feel hurt when you said you hated me. I wanted to try and clear up any misunderstanding, but you didn't let me when you ran off on your own. I was so worried at the thought of you getting hurt that I went looking for you, but I was delayed when I encountered the masked boy Ventus spoke about." She paused a moment. "But I'm glad you said you're sorry, Luna. So, let me apologize about before. I never – ever – meant to say that I doubted your brother. I'm just worried that he might fall prey to the darkness, and the master only asked me to keep an eye on him. He's just worried for Terra as much as all of us are."

"You really do love him, don't ya?" Luna asked with a playful smirk.

Aqua blushed in shock. "Um…Luna…can we discuss that later?" She quickly changed the subject. "What happened to you after you ran off?"

Luna frowned at this. "After I ran away, I was kidnapped…by a very bad man."

Her blue-haired friend's eyes widened at this, and then frowned. "A bad man kidnapped you? What did he look like?"

"He had creepy eyes like a killer animal, and he had a uniform with a red scarf," Luna described what she remembered, "And he had weird guns on him. He had me tied up very high, and meant to use me to get Big Brother's Keyblade. I think he got hurt in his eye and on his face, but he ran away…"

"Knowin' you, babe, you'd probably wanna kill the guy when you find him," Medea guessed.

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard Ventus call out for Aqua and Luna, making the girls turn around to see him running to them (and allowing Medea to vanish back into Luna's shadow in a blink of an eye). They could tell that he had been running very far, since he seemed to be a bit out of breath by the time he came within close proximity.

"What's the matter, Ven?" Luna asked.

"Did you find Terra?" Aqua added.

Ventus took a breath before answering, "Yeah, but…he's gone."

Luna guessed as much on that; Ventus managed to find Terra after she left to look for Aqua. Maybe they had a brief talk before her brother went away from the place.

"Then I can't stay here," she heard Aqua say.

"Then, let me come with you, Aqua," he tried to implore.

"No, Ven. I need you to go home," Aqua said rather harshly.

Luna crossed her arms angrily. "You're doing it again!"

Her criticism caused Aqua to feel guilty all over again, and softened as she turned to the both of them.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been too harsh," she apologized sadly, "I just don't want to put you or Luna in harm's way. You understand?"

Although Luna nodded in understanding, a part of her wasn't all that eager to return home yet; she still wanted to find whatever it is she's looking for through the different worlds. Ventus, however, only stood sadly without saying a word. Luna watched as Aqua changed into her armor and flew off into the sky, heading off to parts unknown.

The next thing she knew was that she saw Ventus taking a seat near the wall and pulling out a wooden Keyblade that she knew came from her brother, Terra. He seemed to be lost in thought, making Luna wonder what she could do to help him. After all, she is also his friend despite the significant age gap between them.

_"__Why don't ya go talk to the kid?"_ Medea suggested in her head, _"He's probably askin' too many questions to himself."_

"Maybe I should speak to him," Luna whispered in agreement, "I'm still here, after all."

"Did you say something, Luna?" Ventus asked from afar, not knowing what's going on.

She shook her head as she walked over and sat down next to him. "Nothing, Ven. I just thought you might want some company. I can't use those transporting keys like you guys can, and I don't wanna leave you all alone."

Her comforting words managed to get a small smile from him, showing her that he's glad that she's willing to stick around for him. As she sat down beside him, she watched as he twirled his keepsake around a few times until it slipped out of his hands and clattered to the ground. Luna peeked over his shoulder to see two boys walking by until one of them – a spiky-haired redhead – stopped, noticed the keepsake, and picked it up to take a look. The boys were very different from each other, she could tell; the spiky redhead had a very laid-back look in his clothes, while the blue-haired boy looked rather uptight with his jacket almost completely closed.

"This yours?" the redhead asked, "Either of you?"

"Lea, we don't have time for this," the blue haired boy with a bit of impatience.

"Lighten up, Isa. It'll only take a sec," Lea answered while approaching the two, "You still play around with toy swords? That's cute. Now, this right here…" He pulled out two decorated toy disks and showed them off. "Ta-dah! Whaddya think?"

Not wanting anything to do with the strange boy so close to them (and very confused about what the heck he's bragging about), Luna began to back away from him cautiously and walk over to the blue-haired boy, who was standing to the side while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're weird," was all she said.

Lea pouted at her. "Who asked your opinion, kiddo?" He turned back to Ventus. "I'll bet you're not saying anything because you're jealous. I'm Lea. Got it memorized? What's your name?"

"Ventus," her blonde-haired friend replied without looking at Lea.

"Alright, Ventus, let's fight!" Lea said excitedly.

Luna could see how taken aback Ventus was. "Why would I want to fight?"

Lea smirked as his green eyes gleamed. "You scared of losing? C'mon." He jumped back a bit into a fighting stance that looked ridiculous to her. "Hope you're ready."

Luna watched as Ventus got excited and got into his own fighting stance, eager to spar with the new guy they had only just met. She just couldn't understand what it is about boys that make them love friendly fighting with each other so much.

"Those two are going to be at this for a while."

Luna turned and looked up at Isa, who simply shook his head with a small smirk on his face. As she did look at him, she couldn't help but see a moon-shaped icon on his jacket. But her staring didn't go unnoticed when he looked down at her with puzzled eyes, making her look away and play with her moonstone brooch very shyly. However, from the corner of her eye, she did see him stare at the stone with curiosity.

"That's a moonstone, isn't it?" he asked her, "Gems like that are not something you find every day. Where did you get it?"

"My Big Brother found one, and made it into a brooch for me," Luna replied without looking at him. "Is there something you like about the moon?"

"The moon…it's a fascinating thing to see at night. It gives off a serene and peaceful light, but also can drive anyone mad," Isa replied, "unleashing another side of a person's heart. At least that's what I've heard."

"I'd hate to see somebody I love go crazy," she admitted nervously.

When she heard the clattering of something fall to the ground and a thud, she looked up to see that Ventus had managed to beat Lea to the ground. She couldn't help but snicker at the sight of the spiky redhead's defeat as she went over to see the humiliation inflicted by her friend.

"You…had enough? 'Cause I'm willing to…" Lea said with a hint of exhaustion. "…call it a draw, if you are."

"Why would Ven do that, Mister Fight Me?" Luna asked mischievously.

"From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big L on your forehead for 'Loser', 'Lame', 'Laughable'…" Isa agreed.

Lea was completely aghast at what he was hearing. "Isn't this the part where you cheer me up or somethin'? 'You're just havin' a bad day' or 'That's what you get for pullin' your punches'. Some friend you are."

"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie," Isa answered sarcastically.

Lea sighed as he put his hands behind his head and lay down. "Ya see what I gotta put up with. I hope you don't have friends like him."

"Uh-huh, and you haven't gotten to try talking to little Luna."

Everyone turned to see Medea standing over Lea with an annoyed frown on her face, causing the poor redhead to jump in shock and Ventus to stumble backward with a 'what the heck' face. Isa, on the other hand, only raised a puzzled eyebrow as he looked at her entire figure. Luna sighed in dismay and leaned her head into her right hand, questioning why her Guardian had to show up at such an inconvenient hour.

"Where'd you come from, lady?" Lea cried out until he got a good look at her fully. Then, he seemed to be fascinated by her womanly features. "Hey…you look pretty hot, I'll give you that. Maybe the next time we meet, we can go out together. How about it, whoever you are?"

"The name's Medea, Fire Boy," she replied with a challenging smirk, "Got it memorized?"

Luna sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head in disbelief. _When did Medea become such a flirty woman? _She had to ask. _Are boys always like that when they admire a woman they meet the first time?_

"Lea, it's time to go."

She opened her eyes to see that the two boys were about to leave.

"Leaving already?" Ventus asked.

"I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, we're friends now," Lea replied as he started to walk away. "Get it memorized." He stopped a moment to look at Luna and Medea. "See ya around, ladies."

When Lea and Isa left the central square, it was just Luna, Ventus, and Medea that are left. On Luna's part, she couldn't help but envy how close the two of them are, since she's never had actual friends of her own; although she has a bond with Ventus and Aqua, she mostly saw them like a family as well…that, and she already has an older brother. It made her wish that she could find someone her age to play with and talk to.

"Must be nice, knowing who your friends are," Ventus admitted with a smile.

"I kinda wish I have more friends, too," Luna confessed, "Maybe somebody around my age. It'd be a lot of fun."

Medea rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, please, Luna. If you're gonna look for friends your size, you got a lot o' work to do."

Ventus jumped back again and turned to see Medea standing next to them, making Luna realize that Ventus hasn't directly met her Guardian after the visit to the dusty desert world.

"Who are you?!" he asked in shock.

"Sorry, Ven. This is my Shadow Guardian, Medea," Luna said sheepishly as she introduced Medea to him, "She's only been awake recently, and she's mad about it. But even though she can be crude sometimes and nags a lot, she's a very good person. Admittedly, I don't understand how you never noticed her the entire time. Aqua has already seen her, and so has Big Brother; so how come you didn't?"

"I guess I wasn't paying attention," Ventus replied as he chuckled in embarrassment.

"Jeez, kid, have you been hiding under a rock all your life?" Medea asked with an exasperated sigh, "You really need to get out more, if ya know what I mean."

"Speaking of getting out more," Luna said as she pulled out the Disney Town ticket from her pouch, "how about we check out the Disney Town place you talked about? It sounds like fun."

Ventus gave her a light-hearted grin. "Oh, so you wanna go check it out? In that case, we'll go there together."

"Yes, I do!" Luna insisted jovially.

Medea brought a cocky smile to her face. "Somebody's getting anxious, eh?"


	11. Chapter 11 - Ch 10: Disney Town

**And now, for something very light and jolly for the readers! Ah, Disney Town. Minigames to do, and colorful characters. (sighs) Anyway, when it came to my OC, I really wanted to think of something different for her, so I thought: what better way to do it than to help out Daisy with gardening? Plus, I had a hard time figuring out what kind of ice cream Luna should get. It took a lot of thinking, until I realized that I've been using the moonflower for her flora for quite a while, so...why not? Anyways, I'm rambling. Enjoy!**

**I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts, except my OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 10 – Disney Town

When Luna and Ventus left Radiant Garden, it turned into a race to see who can find the place; and when they both managed to locate that world, it changed into a race to see who can land on that world first, which ended in a draw. All the same, when they arrived, they were in awe at the colorful, cheery-looking town's festive look, almost as if there's a carnival going on. Luna could see concession stands scattered around the square, and a stage that seems like it would be used to call meetings and things like that. There were signs that read funny things like 'Fruitball' and 'Moo-sic Stage', and there were wide arrays of decorations – from ribbons to balloons - lining above the corners of the houses and shops that made everything so bright and appealing for children.

"What d'ya think we can do here?" Luna asked excitedly.

"I don't know, Luna," Ventus replied with equal curiosity, "Let's have a look around and find out."

But the moment the two entered the main plaza, something tall, huge and chubby dropped down out of nowhere, dressed in a comical white and orange superhero outfit of some sort. Luna screamed in fright, and ran to hide behind a baffled Ventus, who could only pat her head to try and comfort her.

"Wearin' the mask of peace and hope, comes the fearless defender and hero of this town! It is me – Captain Justice!"

Despite the loony performance the big guy was giving them during his speech, neither Luna nor Ventus had a clue on what to say or what to do. Luna simply kept holding on to Ven like a safety line.

"Young fellow and little child, do my hero-senses detect that you guys got troubles?" Captain Justice asked as he approached them. "Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your troubles disappear!"

"You scared us! That's what's wrong!" Luna shouted.

"We're just trying to make some friends…" Ventus started to speak, but stopped and changed his mind. "Never mind, forget it."

"Don't be intimidated by me magnificence," the Captain insisted, "Go on and spit it out. And remember to vote Captain J."

"Vote?" the two asked at the same time.

The moment they asked, Captain J suddenly changed the subject. "Oh! Well, forget that. How can I help? That's the only reason I'm here."

"Well, then…tell me about your town," Ventus replied, "Everything's so festive. Is it always like this?"

Captain J was quite baffled at that. "Huh? That's it – nothin' else? Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival – which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town."

"Like what?" Luna asked.

"Ho, ho, you gotta see it for yourself," the Captain replied as he walked away, "Wouldn't be much of a dream if I told ya."

"Okay. Thanks." Ventus said as he got the point.

"And, kids, don't you both go forgettin' that Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems," Captain J told them.

"Uh, sure…thanks, Captain Justice." Ventus said hesitantly.

But then, they heard a young duck-like voice from afar, fretting about being unable to open an ice cream shop. The distress apparently perked the interest of the chubby guy and prompted him to run off to inspect the problem. However, Luna and Ventus remained where they are for a moment, trying to wrap their heads around what had happened, and what to do while they're in town.

"What're you gonna do, Ven?" Luna asked.

"Well…I'm gonna go see what trouble there is by the stage," Ventus replied, "Can you wait by the pavilion for a little bit?"

"Okay."

While Ventus ran over to the scene of the trouble, Luna started to walk over to the pavilion until she saw an anthropomorphic female duck in a noble purple dress walking down a street with a small pot of flowers on hand. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she began to follow the duck to another plaza until she stopped in awe at the sight of the wide variety of flowers all neatly arranged in pots and vases; that is, until she noticed that there's another set of flowers in need of arrangements as well. Upon closer inspection, though, she realized that the other set of flowers in need of arrangement was none other than the moonflowers. Just the sight of them almost reminded her of her garden filled with the nocturnal flora.

"Oh, dear, I just don't know what to do with those other flowers," the duck sighed sadly as she looked at every plant, "Someone told me they would be very beautiful for the Garden Gallery, but I don't even know what they are or what to do with them…"

At that point, Luna felt rather sorry about it, and decided to step in to find out what she can do to help.

"I can tell you what those flowers you got are, if you want," Luna offered.

When she suddenly spoke up, the duck turned around to see her coming over. That was when Luna suddenly became shy and stopped where she is.

"Oh? Did you say something, my dear?" the female duck asked.

"Um…I just, uh, saw you having a problem," Luna replied, "and I…um…thought you needed help."

"Well, I certainly could use a little help right now. You see, I have just received a batch of unique flowers that I've never seen before," the female duck explained, "but for some reason, they aren't blooming like the rest of the flowers I already arranged. But…now that I think about it, I didn't even bother trying to identify what they are. Would you happen to know what these unusual floral are?"

Luna walked over to the stall, and took a closer look at the closed up flowers. Closer inspection of the moonflowers – from the petal colors to the size – showed her that there were two varieties, and all of them are not opening up as they should. In fact, she found that some of the flowers were a magnificent white while others were either tinged with yellow or were a cerulean blue in color, which made her bubble up some kind of idea in her head.

"Well, these are moonflowers. And the one problem you're having is that these flowers need dark places in order to open their petals," Luna said as she showed the troubled lady the structure of the plants, "If you want to see their full beauty, they need something to shade them."

She watched as the lady duck rubbed her lower beak thoughtfully. "So, that's why I had trouble getting the flowers to bloom. I suppose what has to be done now is figure out how to arrange the moonflowers for the Garden Gallery. Do you have any ideas?"

Luna paused for a moment, and scratched her head at that. From what she saw, the moonflowers at her disposal had a nice diversity of colors that could easily make an impression of the moon…the moon! One idea led to another, as she recalled reading about some kind of pattern that moons do called 'phases', and thought about how she could arrange the flowers to do just that.

"How about we have the flowers set up like the moon and follow its pattern?" Luna suggested eagerly, "And while we're at it, we can find something that can surround the flowers with the right amount of shade."

"That's a splendid idea, my dear!" the lady duck explained, "Please, see what you can do with the flowers while I go look for the means to shade them, like you said."

While the lady duck went away for the moment, Luna focused her attention to the moonflowers and began to carefully arrange each flower in accordance to the visual image she had in mind. Once in a while, she would use her Shadow Hands to hold onto the leftovers until she can find a way to fit all the potted plants into their respective positions, and even then, she managed to pull off her visual creation very effectively. By the time she was done with all the pots and flowers, she marveled at the work she had done by herself.

_"__Wow-whee, Luna, I never knew you were one hell of a gardener,"_ Medea said from in the shadow.

"Well, I grew moonflowers back home ever since I discovered them," Luna told her, "They became my favorite flowers since then…so much that my brother would call me 'Moonflower' out of affection sometimes."

_"__Is that so? Well, let's see what you came up with."_

In an instant, Medea emerged from Luna's shadow and looked over her shoulder to see what work had been done. Even the Guardian was utterly impressed when she saw the phasing pattern in each of the large flower pots, all neatly set to look like the moon.

"Huh…I never would've imagined that you'd know your way around moonflowers like this, hon," Medea admitted, "But you did say that they've been your favorites for a long time, so I guess I can see why you'd do stuff like this. How should I know, though? I've been asleep until recently."

"Oh? You finished the arrangements already?"

Luna and Medea turned around to find she had returned with a few miniature umbrellas in hand, one for each pot. They watched as her eyes diverted towards the flowers, and was amazed at how nicely arranged every single moonflower was.

"Oh, my, I've never seen such a lovely pattern like this!" she exclaimed happily as she put the umbrellas in their places, "This will do quite nicely for the Garden Gallery." She turned to Luna with a smile on her beak. "Thank you very much for your help, Miss…oh, how rude of me! I never asked your name, my dear."

"I'm Luna, ma'am," Luna replied. "And you are…?"

"My name's Daisy. I'm a friend of Queen Minnie," Daisy introduced herself. "And who's your friend?"

Luna looked over to her Guardian. "Her name's Medea. She's my Shadow Guardian."

"What's up?" Medea said casually. Then, she turned to Luna. "Hey, girl, it's nice that you found a friend and all, but don't ya think you oughta be looking for Ventus right about now? He's probably wondering where the hell you disappeared to and looking for ya, y'know."

Luna gasped in shock when she realized what she had done. "Oh, what am I gonna do? Ven's gonna be mad at me for wandering off when I shouldn't have! What do I say to him?!"

"Oh, don't you worry, Luna. We'll go look for him together," Daisy reassured her sweetly, "and we can explain to him what you were doing."

Luckily for them, they didn't have to start looking too far; in fact, they heard distinct voices coming their way. One of the voices came from a fretting Ventus, who was obviously worrying about Luna's safety every two seconds; another was a high-pitched feminine voice reassuring him that his friend is alright and that one of their townsfolk might've found her by now. Sure enough, she got to see Ventus approaching the Garden Gallery with a royally dressed female mouse next to him. When he finally saw her, Luna was quite sure that he had both a relieved and overprotective look on his face.

"Luna! There you are!" he cried out, "You nearly gave me a heart attack when I found that you weren't waiting at the pavilion! Your brother would **kill** me if anything happened to you on my watch!"

Luna hung her head shamefully. "Sorry, Ven. I didn't mean to wander off…"

"Oh, young man, it's quite alright," Daisy stepped in to explain, "You see, this sweet little lady helped me finish the flower arrangements for the Garden Gallery. I never knew that the newest batch of flowers I was given were actually moonflowers, and she created the most beautiful masterpiece I've ever seen. If she hadn't followed me here, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet Luna and her friend Medea."

That was when the mouse came over to Luna and smiled her. Because of how friendly and heartwarming it was, Luna couldn't help but smile back.

"That was very kind of you, Luna," she said cheerfully, "And it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Minnie."

"Hi, Minnie," Luna replied. She looked up at Ventus. "So, where's the creepy, chubby guy?"

"Ah…about that, Luna: remember that 'Captain Justice' guy?" Ventus asked her, prompting to nod her head, "Well, I was told that the guy was actually someone called Pete, and that he's a troublemaker. It turns out that he was using that getup in order to win votes for something called the Million Dreams Award."

Medea tilted her head with a baffled face. "Aaaaaand…what's the Million Dreams Award, kiddo?"

"It's a part of the Dream Festival events, in which everyone votes for whoever is the most exemplary citizen," Minnie replied, "The festival helps us show how much we look out for each other every day. That's its true purpose, after all."

"That sounds like something nice," Luna agreed.

"Well, if I was to have a say on this, then I believe Luna deserves my vote," Daisy said as she put her hand on Luna's shoulder, "for her kindness and her helping hand."

Luna blushed deeply as she heard this. "Um…thanks."

Medea sighed deeply. "Sometimes you just don't figure out how popular you get with the people you meet…"

Later on, after the matter was settled down, everybody gathered by the stage at the main plaza, excited to find out who's going to be the winner of the Million Dreams Award. Luna stood next to Ventus and held his hand tightly, while Medea simply stood right behind her and looked around at the crowd. Some of the citizens were asking amongst themselves who the winner is going to be, and a few actually confess their hopes that either they or other people they voted for would be able to win the award. Then, at just the right time, Minnie came up on the stage with Daisy by her side.

"Hello, everyone, and thank you for waiting," she said sweetly, "Now, it's time for the main event of the Dream Festival – the Million Dreams Award presentation."

Luna looked behind her to see Pete standing in the shade, proudly gloating at himself.

"Just skip to the part where you say my name. This is a shoo-in!" he said to himself.

Luna scowled at him, and turned back to the stage. _There's no way he's gonna get the prize with that kind of behavior,_ she thought.

"Oh, this is very exciting!" Minnie continued her announcement, "This year, we have multiple winners. The Million Dreams Award goes to…Ventus, Luna, Aqua, and Terra: all four of you!"

Instantly, there was a bunch of whooping and cheering steered in the direction of Ventus and Luna. The two of them looked around with surprised faces, while Medea simply shook her head at how easily stunned they were at their names being announced.

"Huh? We won?" Ventus asked.

"Big Brother was here, too?" Luna added in shock.

Just then, Pete suddenly came storming past the two to make a protest, almost making fall over on her rear if she weren't still holding onto to Ventus's hand. Everybody watched as Pete ran onto the stage to confront Queen Minnie.

"There's gotta be a mistake. Everybody voted for Captain Justice. I made sure!" Pete objected, "Now, go on, tell her!"

But nobody said a word in defense of Pete; in fact, nobody made any movement to support the big bully. Ventus folded his arms with an emotionless face while Luna stuck her tongue out at him in spite, completely rejecting him. This got Pete frustrated, but he wasn't giving up just yet.

"Gotta try the other one…" he muttered to himself.

Everybody watched as Pete ran behind the right stage curtain one moment, and then come out in a goofy black, purple, and pink outfit with a purple cape.

"The rogue racer, Captain Dark!" he announced in yet another comical pose.

But that didn't help him out either; everybody in the crowd either turned to face away from him, or would act like they're doing something else. Ventus put his hands behind his head and let his eyes wander off like he's bored out of his mind, while Luna put her hands on her hips and turned her head away with a haughty look; Medea did the same thing, but she turned her head in the opposite direction.

"Pete, we counted the votes very carefully. Ventus, Luna, Aqua, and Terra won," Minnie told him, "Oh, Pete, I know you tried to do something good, but you were doing it for the wrong reasons, and you went about the wrong way. Still, a couple of citizens must have thought you had goodness in you, because you actually got a few votes. They knew you were looking out for them."

But Pete didn't even care about that. "Big whoop!" he said arrogantly, "I don't need their lousy votes. Just cough up my prize!"

"Pete!" Minnie shouted with evident fury in her voice. "They voted for you because they believe in you and care about you. How could you look down on that? I've tried to forgive you for the things you've done, but this is too much. You have finally crossed the line!"

"Like that matters to me. What're you gonna do about it?" Pete said foolishly.

"Ha! I'm going to let you cool off for a while. Guards!" the queen called.

Luna turned to see a group of walking broomsticks marching over to the stage in a line, loyally following the queen's orders. She then watched as the broomsticks circled around Pete, lifted him off his feet, and began to carry him out of the town to parts unknown.

"Wow. I never knew brooms could do that," Medea said with a raised brow, since she saw the whole thing, too.

"At least we don't have to see that big bumbling bully ever again," Luna added in relief.

"I hope not," Ventus agreed.

Once everybody saw that the big bully Pete was gone for good, all the townsfolk turned around back to the stage, eager to see the presentation go on.

"Now, shall we continue the ceremony?" Minnie said, resuming her normal friendly voice, "Will the four winners, Ventus, Luna, Aqua, and Terra, please come up and join me on the stage?"

When they heard their names being called, Luna followed Ventus onto the stage while holding on to his hand most of the way; Medea chose to stay with the crowd and watch them get their well-deserved reward. Minnie did one last look towards the crowd, but couldn't find the others.

"Oh, dear, it looks like our other two winners couldn't make it here to be with us today," she said with a sigh.

Luna's head dropped sadly at this. "I was hoping to see Big Brother…"

"They probably already left," Ventus speculated, "Don't worry. You still got me for now."

They turned to Minnie and Daisy to hear what the queen has to say.

"Perhaps you both would accept the award on their behalf," she suggested, "You've been so kind to so many people here at the Dream Festival. So now, I hereby present the Million Dreams Award as a token of how much you matter to us. Congratulations!"

Then, all of the Disney townsfolk burst into whoops and cheers for Luna and Ventus with great excitement. Medea just stood there, gave a small smile, and clapped in approval towards the two (she figured it was the least she could do). Luna couldn't help but blush a bright red, and clung tightly to Ventus's pants, making him pat her head in reassurance. But then, her attention was reeled back in when she saw Minnie and Daisy holding two exotically designed ice creams meant for the both of them.

"And as an extra treat, we've created something special," Minnie continued, "an ice cream flavor for the both of you: Double Crunch ice cream and Blue Moon Flower ice cream."

Luna's Blue Moon Flower was a large scoop of blue ice cream on top of several blue petal-shaped wafers, topped by a silvery crescent moon-shaped cookie and icing shaped like a bat wing and an angel wing on each side below the cookie; the whole ice cream was held in a glass bowl fit for a child's hands.

Ventus's Double Crunch had a scoop of pink ice cream on top of a big red berry with two white circles in it and was surrounded by three different fruits, decorated by two key-shaped cookies and topped by two chocolate ears with a cute golden crown on top; the whole thing was neatly arranged in an edible waffle bowl.

Luna gratefully took her ice cream from Daisy while Ventus took his from Queen Minnie. All the townsfolk watched eagerly as the two looked at their ice creams in fascination for a moment or so, and then took a bite into it to find out what it's like. The moment Luna got her bit of ice cream into her mouth, she could've sworn that she felt a strongly sweet taste sink deep into her tongue and almost send her on cloud nine; but she managed to keep herself in control with the mental reminder to thank the queen for the treat.

"What do you think?" the queen asked.

"It's so yummy!" Luna replied jovially. "Thanks, Minnie."

"It's great. Thanks!" Ventus agreed with a bright smile.

Minnie giggled with ecstasy at this. "We're all very glad you enjoyed it."

Another cheer came out from the crowd until things finally settled down, and everybody resumed their activities at the Dream Festival. On the part of Luna and Ventus, they decided to stick around for a little while and have a little fun; Luna got to show Ventus the Garden Gallery where they got to see the moonflowers blooming under the shade of the mini umbrellas, and Ventus got to teach her how to use the ice cream machine with mixed results since she was too short to reach some of the keys.

However, there did come a point where Luna had an urge to continue exploring what other worlds she can find; even Medea is well aware of it, since she did sink back into Luna's shadow as a warning they'll have to leave. The way she could tell was that her Teleport Brace had begun to release flickers of glowing red light; but how is she going to be able to leave the town without Ventus's suspicion too much?

"Hey, Ven, I'm gonna go look for Aqua and Big Brother," Luna told him, "I wanna see where they might've gone next."

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" Ventus asked, still protective of her after the incident.

"I'll be okay; Ven. I have Medea, remember?" Luna reminded to him confidently.

He sighed when he recalled how her Guardian always stuck around her. "Alright, Luna, you win. Just promise me that you won't do anything reckless, for my sake and Terra's."

"Okay, Ven."

While Ventus went back into town to explore the streets a little longer, Luna took advantage of this and slipped away from the plaza, allowing the Brace to activate and carry her off to another world via red barrier. As she sailed away from Disney Town, she couldn't help but wonder where her brother or Aqua had arrived at this time.


	12. Chapter 12 - Ch 11: Olympus Coliseum

**And now...the world of Hercules! It felt very goofy having to figure out what nicknames Hades gives Luna and Medea, but at least I thought of something (plus, it's three ladies having to deal with him; gotta get away with something, right?). Also, it's interesting that Zack got into Birth by Sleep...but what happened to him after the BBS storyline? If only we knew... Anyways, enjoy!**

**I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 11 – Olympus Coliseum

The first thing Luna knew was that she felt significantly smaller than small when she landed; but it wasn't until she looked up at the gigantic gates that she realized where she is. She looked all around her and found that everything was colossal compared to her. It made her wonder where she is right now.

"What is this place?" she asked herself.

_"__Well, why don't ya take a look around, girl?"_ Medea asked within her shadow, _"There's gotta be something here that can let you know where you are."_

Taking her Guardian's word for it, Luna began walking toward a doorway with two enormous warrior statues standing strongly over it. But before she could get anywhere, she suddenly saw a group of Unversed appear right in front of her, one of which that carried two little shields in its arms. She knew that she had to fight back or else she's in trouble. _But I could use a little help right now_, she thought.

"Medea, come out!" she called.

At her beck and call, Medea emerged from Luna's shadow and took on a fighting stance alongside her. But before the both of them could ready themselves for the enemy, footsteps could be heard behind them, and an unexpected ally comes in to lend a hand; however, Luna knows who it is.

"Oh, hi, Aqua," Luna said casually.

"Were you really going to fight them on your own?" Aqua asked with concern.

"Nah, she made sure I came out to give her a hand, babe," Medea replied.

But before all three girls could prepare to charge right into the fray, a very strange character jumped right in front of them into a goofy fighting pose. It was a short guy with goat legs and horns with a light red beard and a big, red nose.

"Stand back, sweetcheeks. I'll take care of this," the satyr said, to the disgust of all three girls. But after only a few seconds, the satyr got scared and started running away. "Herc, they're all yours!"

Just as the satyr ran out of the yard, Luna turned to see a young boy running in to help them out. The boy had orange-red hair and a slightly muscular body, wearing a white ancient Greek tunic with sandals. No words were needed, but the four of them figured that they have to team up to take down the monsters right in front of them.

Luna summoned her Shadow Hands left and right to wipe out the lesser Unversed while Medea charged in and juggled the Buckle Bruisers into the air; when more enemies appeared, Aqua used her spells to take out the pot-shaped monsters while Herc went in for powerful punches against any stragglers that the girls didn't catch in time. On separate occasions, Luna would team up with Herc to hinder the monsters, with Luna using her Shadow Hands to trap the target while Herc went in for a mighty swing to send it flying into next week. When it seemed like all of the Unversed had been taken care of, everyone got to take a breather until the satyr showed up again.

"Oy! Those wackos almost made gyros out of me," the satyr sighed in relief.

"Well, maybe if you weren't trying to show off…" Herc pointed out.

"Who asked you, kid? You'll understand more when you're older."

"And stronger," Herc, or Hercules, added, "Strong enough to become a true hero."

"Being strong and being a hero doesn't sound the same in my book," Medea disagreed.

"Why would you wanna become stronger to be a hero?" Luna asked in confusion. "You look strong enough to me."

"Well, little one, you should look at how strong Terra is," Hercules replied to Luna, "and he's the champion!"

Aqua had a baffled face on her. "Terra…is a champion?"

But she was interrupted when the satyr had something to say. "So, sugarcakes…You got any plans for later? You know, I've trained a few heroes in my time. Maybe I can recite ya a little epic poetry."

Medea cringed in disgust, feeling that she's had enough. "Hey, we're searchin' for something here, shorty! So why don't ya just back away from the blue lady?"

"Did you know Terra?" Aqua asked, intervening against Medea's insult.

"Of course I do. He's the local hero everybody's going gaga for," the satyr replied with a bit of annoyance, "Oh, now I get it. You three are his fans. Everywhere I go, it's Terra-this, and Terra-that…More like Terra-bull."

"We were looking for him, Mr. Goat," Luna explained.

"Yeah, tell me about it, sisters. You and the rest of Greece! Kid shows up outta nowhere, goes and wins the first Games he ever enters, dazzling the whole town, and then the nudnik up and vanishes!"

_Wow, I wish I was there to see my Big Brother in the Games…whatever that is,_ Luna thought happily, _I would've loved to try out something new for a change_. It brought a bit of a smile on her face knowing that her brother was certainly busy, if he managed to do something as extreme as getting into a sport.

"Everyone says Terra's the real thing, a true hero," Hercules said with an excited air around him, "I can't wait till I'm that tough."

The satyr simply scoffed at that. "He's so tough that he turned the last schlemiel that faced him into a raving yahoo."

"C'mon, Phil, be nice," Hercules scolded.

Luna looked up to see that Aqua is a bit disappointed at what she was hearing.

"So…you're telling us he isn't here," she deduced.

"Well, that's a shame. Luna and I were hopin' to find him here," Medea remarked. "But since he's not, we'll just toddle off, eh?"

The three were about to walk away, but Phil stopped them. "Whoa! Not so fast," Phil called out to them, "He might not be here, but ya never know. He could always decide that he's gonna show up for the Games."

"Yeah…to defend his title," Hercules added.

"And if ya enter, there's always a chance you might run into him," Phil added in as well. In fact, he had a plan in mind. "I got an idea: I'll sign you up myself. And if you need a trainer, I'd be more than happy to put y'all through the ropes."

Apparently, this got Hercules dumbfounded at that. "But, Phil…I practically had to beg you to agree to train me."

"Pipe down, kid! You and the chicks ain't got the same attributes, if ya know what I mean," Phil whispered.

Luna got confused at this. "What does he mean by 'attributes'?"

"You don't wanna know, Luna," Medea replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose in displeasure.

"Please, sign me up for the Games," Aqua propositioned before introductions. "My name is Aqua, and these ladies with me are Luna and Medea."

Luna looked up to Aqua. "Can we join the Games, too?"

Aqua and Hercules were stunned at Luna's request, but Phil was completely against it.

"Hold on there, dollface! You're a little kid. What good's it gonna do ya, signing up for the Games?" Phil protested, "Besides, how're ya gonna be able to fight in there?"

Luna felt a bit offended at this. "I can fight, too, Mr. Goat! And I have Medea with me, so I'll be fine!"

"Y'know, in her defense, she did have some form of magic to help her out," Hercules added to support her claim, "and she did prove herself capable of holding her own. But if you're that worried about her, she and her friend can team up with Aqua in the Games together."

Luna, Medea, and Aqua turned to look at each other with 'the boy does have a point' faces, and then turned back to Phil to hear what he has to say to Herc's idea. As far as Luna is concerned, Hercules had the most reasonable idea in a long time ever since learning about her powers through Eraqus. Finally, after a long silence, Phil let out a sigh of defeat and gave in to the proposition.

"Alright, alright, you win. Now let's start with the basics…"

"Thanks, but we don't need a trainer," Aqua interrupted.

"Nice way to shoot him down, blue babe," Medea said sarcastically. Aqua shot Medea a warning glare at her.

Thankfully, Phil didn't hear what the Guardian said. "Bah! Women – never changes. So I suppose ya still want me to go and get y'all signed up. Meet me in the vestibule when you're ready."

The three girls followed Phil and Hercules into the vestibule and signed themselves up for the Games. Sure enough, with the three of them working together, they were able to easily conquer half of the matches without even breaking a sweat. Luna made use of her Shadow Hands to trap each of their opponents, while Medea charged into the fray head-on and Aqua provided the necessary spells to pull them through the tight spots. In the later battles, Luna got a little more active and conjured her Hands to juggle enemies over to her allies while landing a few blows herself. Soon enough, they've managed to inch closer to the finals of the tournaments.

"We're doing great, aren't we?" Luna asked as she walked with Aqua

"Hah! This whole thing's been a breeze!" Medea replied proudly as she hovered behind her master.

"All that's left is the final, and still no sign of Terra," Aqua sighed, "The guy we're supposed to fight is someone else named Zack."

But the moment the three turned around, they quickly ended up face-to-face with an energetic young man. He had black, spiky hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing a gray chest plate with silver shoulder armor and black gloves, with blue trousers and black and brown boots.

Luna yelped when she saw how close he was to them, and fell down backwards; Medea jumped in shock with a 'what the hell' look on her face, while Aqua simply gasped in shock at seeing a new person show up so suddenly.

"Aqua, Luna, and Medea, right? Hey, I'm Zack. Your opponent in the final," Zack said very excitedly, "Man, finally! Once I beat you three, I get to take on Terra!"

Poor Aqua was just confused at this. "Terra?" she asked. "Why? I don't understand. Are you saying there's another match after the final?"

"What d'ya mean?" Luna asked in confusion.

Zack noticed their confusion. "Uh-oh…Guess you didn't get the memo." He turned to Phil. "Oh, Phil, could you tell them the rules?"

"Fine, here's how it is: the Games are divided into two brackets – you got your East, and you got your West," Phil reluctantly explained, "The winners from each bracket face off in the championship match. Now, right now you are competing in the East, and we got no idea about the other side. For all we know, your boy Terra could be cruisin' through over in the West."

Medea was aghast at this. "You gotta be kiddin' me! How the hell were we supposed to know that?"

"Then we shouldn't be fighting in the matches," Aqua said as she started to head toward the doors. "We should be over there looking for him."

"Is that a good idea?" Luna asked her nervously.

"No…you, uh…can't! It's not allowed," Phil stopped Aqua in her tracks. "Athletes are expressly forbidden from watchin' matches from the other bracket."

Hercules looked over to Zack in confusion. "Did he just make that up?"

"How should I know?" Zack replied.

"I'm pretty damn sure he did!" Medea hissed in frustration.

"Alright, fine! Look, you just gotta stay and fight in this match," Phil insisted, "The two athletes I entered defaulted before they made it to the top. Give a guy a break. I got a reputation."

Zack, Hercules, Luna, and Medea looked at each other before turning back to Aqua.

"Hey, do it for us, too," Zack pleaded.

"Please, Aqua?" Luna implored, "For our sake?"

Aqua thought about it for a moment, but when she looked at Luna's pleading eyes, she quickly caved in.

"Alright, then," she agreed, "We'll finish what we started."

Phil grinned with joy at the news. "You will? Oh, the gods are smilin' on me today! I'll wait for ya in the vestibule. Just let me know when you're all ready to go."

"Now you're talkin'! This'll be thrilling!" Medea declared while laughing aloud.

"Hooray! Let's do it!" Luna cheered as she bounced up and down.

Even Hercules was feeling pumped up by the enthusiasm. "Wow, a match between Zack, Aqua, Luna, and Medea? This I can't miss."

But leave it to Phil to shoot it down. "Ix-nay on the atchin'-way." He said from afar. "You got trainin' to complete."

Poor Hercules sighed in disappointment. "Oh, that's right…Well, good luck, guys. I'll see you around."

With that, Hercules left the coliseum gates, leaving the girls alone with Zack.

"Hey, girls, give it your best out there," Zack said to them.

"You, too," Aqua replied.

"Wait till you see what my pint-sized master can do t' ya," Medea snickered.

"Medea…" Luna sighed.

"I am so fired up!" Zack said eagerly as he began doing a few squats.

Luna couldn't help but stare dumbly at what Zack is doing in front of them, but what she wanted to figure out was how he met her brother. She turned to Aqua with a questioning look that said 'should I tell him my relations', but her blue-haired friend shook her head and gave her a gesture that replied 'don't bring it up right now'; so, she silently agreed not to say a thing about it.

"Hey, Black Spikes, Terra's a buddy of theirs," Medea bluntly spoke, "Mind tellin' us how you came to know the guy in person?"

"He saved my life," Zack replied while somehow not being bothered by the nickname Medea gave him, "During the last games, this dude named Hades tried to make Terra his pawn of darkness, and he used me to do it. He had some kind of magic or something that made me crazy, gave me…weird powers that I turned against Terra." He finished his squats and continued to talk. "But you know what? Terra freed me. And he didn't need the darkness to do it."

Aqua folded her arms in thought. "I had no idea…"

"Me neither," Luna agreed as she rubbed her chin.

Zack changed the subject after that. "Well, that's enough of the drama. I guess I'll see you all in the ring, right?"

By the time the three thought about heading back into the vestibule, Zack had already began walking off to the arena. Then, after a few moments, the girls went in to prepare for the match against their enthusiastic opponent. But before they went into the arena, Aqua went astray for a moment to pick up something, while Luna was left with Medea, who seems to have something on her mind.

"Y'know, from I've seen with ya so far, you're not doing too bad with your powers," Medea said in contemplation, "But I'm thinking we'd better up the ante this time around."

"What d'ya mean?" Luna asked as she tilted her head in confusion.  
"I'm thinking that ya need to learn how to sink into your own shadow," Medea replied.

Luna looked at her with a shocked face. "Sink into my shadow? What's that supposed t' mean?"

"Actually, I call it 'Shadow Stealth'. It's some kind of ability Shadow Mages use to either sneak on their opponents or to make a quick getaway," her Guardian explained, "Since we're going up against Zack, and he doesn't know about your powers so far, I'm thinking this would be a good time to demonstrate your ability to get wise to guys like him. Besides, one must know when to fight smarter, not harder."

Before Luna could ask any more questions about the subject, Aqua returned to give her a potion to use in case of an emergency and tell her it's time to enter the match. When they were ready, the trio headed out into the ring and prepared to go face-to-face against Zack. Luna could see that he's very determined to win, even know he should know that he's going up against three girls at once.

"I promised Terra I'd face him, fair and square," Zack said to them as he pulled out his sword.

"A friendship between boys…it almost makes me jealous," Aqua mused.

"C'mon, Aqua, you've been around boys longer than I have," Luna argued playfully, "I should be the one who's jealous!"

Even though it was three girls against one boy, Zack went to show that he wasn't going to hold back on them just because there are women in the ring; in fact, he went after them without having a second thought. Aqua made her move against him first, landing good strikes on him with her Keyblade, while Luna and Medea would jump in whenever there's an opening. But there did come a point where Zack got smart about them a bit, and he started focusing on Luna and Medea more often. Unbeknownst to him, though, this was exactly what the Guardian was waiting for.

"Alright-y, let's have you learn that Shadow Stealth, right here, right now," Medea warned her, "Just focus on the thought of escaping Zack's attack, and let your powers do the rest." She watched as Zack was about to charge in to land an attack from above. "Do it, now!"

When Luna looked up and saw Zack coming down to strike, she started panicking; desperately thinking that she has to get away from the blow. Aqua was about to warn her to run when Luna's shadow surged with purple energy and the little girl suddenly sank rapidly downward until she was completely absorbed in. To everyone's surprise – Aqua's and Zack's included – Luna merged with her shadow and slithered away from the sword attack meant for her. Because this unexpected development caught Zack off-guard, Luna took advantage of that opening and swept him right off of his feet, making him fall to the ground. With that blow taken into account, the girls were announced the winners of the match.

"Ugh, I lost!" Zack groaned. But then, he got up and his mood lightened. "I've got a long way to go if I'm gonna become a hero."

Before anyone could make a response, they saw a puff of smoke and fire suddenly form and a tall, creepy figure appeared right before their eyes. This unexpected intruder was dressed in a gray toga, and had deathly grayish blue skin with sick yellow eyes and blue flame burning on his head.

"Really – it's you? Here I thought I'd drop in to see which muscle-head was up next and…Holy hydras! It's just three little girls, a moon child, a fiery harpy, and a little bluebird."

As the stranger looked at them one at a time, Luna could see that he had different looks in his eyes; he showed a raised puzzled eyebrow at her, a twinge of annoyance at Medea, and a faintly dirty gaze at Aqua. It made her hate the idea of knowing what he might be thinking regarding them. But Zack interrupted when he growled in contempt, "Hades!"

Hades turned with a disinterested look on his face and said, "Is that a mosquito? Where did I put that bug spray?"

Zack cried out in shock, "Mosquito?!"

"So you're Hades," Aqua said with barely repressed anger in her voice. "You used Zack, and tried to cast Terra into the darkness."

"Why is there fire on your head?" Luna asked, too focused on his looks to wonder what's going on.

"Fiery head comes with the underworld career, moon child," Hades replied nonchalantly, "So I take it you're all acquainted with the spineless chickenhead."

"Excuse me, but Terra's a friend of theirs," Medea remarked irritably, "And from what we heard, he triumphed over the darkness. He doesn't sound like a spineless dude, baldy."

"I AM NOT BALD!" Hades yelled in rage at Medea, until he calmed down. "Anyway, it's funny, y'know, 'cause I heard different. Ya see, it was Chickenheart who asked me for a little, shall we say, instruction on how to use darkness in the first place. And he was so close to doing it, too, when the sap went and got cold feet. Now, if that ain't cowardly, I don't know what is." At that moment, he flickered between red-hot anger to cool blue fire before continuing. "But you three – moon child, harpy, and bluebird – why not demonstrate some real courage for the winning team?"

Aqua was having none of that. "The darkness doesn't interest me!"

"I don't like the dark either!" Luna agreed.

"Go ask a narcissist!" Medea retorted angrily.

"Well, that was rude. A 'no thank you, your godliness' would've sufficed," Hades groaned, "Fortunately, I still get to – ahem – destroy you. Rules say you face me next. And I have a whole lot of darkness…with your name on it!"

On that note, Hades disappeared in a burst of smoke before Zack could run over and stop him from getting away. Luna could tell from the way he was shaking his fists that he wasn't very happy with the underworld god at all. In fact, if she were in his shoes, she'd be feeling the same thing; she wouldn't like it if anyone badmouthed her brother or a friend.

"Man, if only I were up against him," he said with frustration. He then turned to Aqua and Luna, and walked over to them. "Aqua, Luna, you both gotta avenge me and Terra!"

The girls looked at each other, nodded in agreement, and turned back to Zack.

"We will." Aqua agreed.

"All three of us will," Luna added with determination.

"Nice to know ya aren't leavin' me out," Medea remarked.

When they returned a little later into the ring, they found that the arena has taken on a sinister look. Luna could tell since the fires flickering were a different color and the sky was a bit dark for her preference. On the sidelines, Zack was watching the place nervously as he held his hands onto his arms anxiously.

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of crackling claws grasping onto the edges of the coliseum walls until a gigantic, icy colossus stomped right into the arena. Luna and Medea couldn't help but be shocked at the size of the monstrosity before them; it was an enormous monster that looked like it had been wretchedly crafted from pure ice, what with some of the icicles pointing out from its feet and around its entire body, and its torso bearing the shape of poorly constructed ribs.

Just then, Hades appeared right in front of it, making all three girls get very irritated with him and his minion.

"I never said one-on-one."

Zack was outraged at this. "No fair, Hades!"

"I suppose that's in the rules," Aqua admitted as she got ready to fight.

"I don't remember Baldy not saying one-on-one," Medea retorted.

"I'M NOT BALD!" Hades roared at Medea, and resumed what he was doing. "Rule number two: contestants may call for backup. Maybe you'd better call yours, bluebird."

"He's already here!" Zack called, but a Shadow Hand emerged and pulled him away from the ring. It was Luna who pulled that move.

"You'll hurt yourself, Zack," Luna explained.

"We'll handle this on our own," Aqua agreed.

The only thing that worried them was how they were going to handle this fight. It was one thing to go up against Hades, but to have to deal with a colossal ice monster as well?

"Luna, I'll go after Hades. Think you can handle the colossus?" Aqua asked.

"Sure, but I need a giant myself, if that's the case," Luna replied.

"Leave that to me," Medea said confidently.

With a large buildup of shadowy energy, Medea focused her powers and began to drastically grow in size until she was just about the same height as the Ice Colossus. Then, a pair of dark arms stretched out of her body, picked up Luna from the ground, and brought her up to Medea's chest to form a protective cage around her. From there, it was almost as if she can puppeteer her Guardian into doing whatever she would've done if it were actually her fighting back.

"Let's do this!" Luna and Medea shouted simultaneously.

While Aqua was keeping Hades occupied, Luna focused all of her attention on the Ice Colossus. She let out several swipes against the beast, sometimes getting into a power struggle against it in order to send it collapsing under its own weight. In retaliation, the Colossus would use its own sweeping strikes against her and her Guardian; occasionally letting loose a breath of ice that would've hurt Luna herself if Medea hadn't used her arms as shields every chance she got. Eventually, with enough force put into attacking, Luna and Medea were able to shatter the Ice Colossus into many pieces, breaking it beyond repair.

By that time, Aqua was just wearing down Hades when the two of them looked up to see the Ice Colossus break apart and disappear. Just the sight of the damage done was enough to infuriate the underworld god into making a retreat.

"I knew that snow cone wasn't going to cut it," he grumbled angrily, "Stay tuned!"

Then, he vanished in a burst of smoke and fire once more, allowing the girls to finally be able to settle down. Medea shrank back down into her normal size, but looked a little exhausted after a long fight. Luna was back on the ground, but she, too, was getting worn out as well. Thankfully, Zack came in and gave them potions to restore their strength so they can keep on going. Once everyone was confirmed to be well enough to go, they left the ring toward the coliseum gates together.

"Stupid Hades…next time, I'll put him in his place," Zack sighed. Then, he smacked his fist to his palm as if he forgot something. "Oh, yeah, you guys are the champs – we gotta celebrate!"

"That won't be necessary," Aqua protested politely.

"Yeah, just knowing that Baldy is gonna leave us alone for a good, long while is peachy enough for me," Medea added.

However, Zack persisted, and thought about what he wanted to do for a moment. But then, he had a funny, playful grin on his face.

"How about one date…with one of you?" he asked.

All three girls were taken aback at this. Aqua's face turned a bright red, while Luna's mouth dropped into an 'o' shape, and Medea scoffed at the request.

"Too bad, Spiky, but I'm booked already," Medea answered as she turned her head away.

"You mean – No…I have to leave right away," Aqua stammered in embarrassment, "Besides, I still have so much training to do…"

"Fair enough: I'm still a work in progress," Zack said while focusing on Aqua, "Well, how about this – I become a hero, and then we go on a date. Is that okay, Aqua?"

That was enough to get Luna riled up. "No! Aqua already has my Big Brother! Leave her alone!"

Everybody gasped in shock the moment Luna spilled the beans; Aqua and Medea were horrified that she blurted out her relation to Terra, while Zack was left completely speechless and unable to take his eyes off the little girl.

"Wait, wait, wait! Did you say…Big Brother?" Zack asked with a confounded face. "Hold on. I think Terra mentioned something about a family…" He scratched his head a moment. "Then, that means…" He suddenly went wide-eyed when he finally put two and two together. "Oh, man! You're his little sister! Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Knowing our blue babe here, she probably wasn't sure what you'd think if we told ya when we first met," Medea replied as she glared daggers at Aqua.

"Oh, well. At least I got to know ya, Luna. I'll admit, you did real awesome out there on your own," Zack said, quickly brushing the confusion aside, "Don't worry about the whole date thing. Since you did say Aqua already has one, I'll be nice and back down…on the condition that you have one date with me once I become a hero, when you're older."

"Maybe…" Luna replied with a blush on her face.

Hilariously, Medea and Aqua had to facepalm at Zack's offer. But nobody could do anything to stop him since he already went running off. Just as Zack had already left, Hercules came running in to find all the girls outside.

"Oh…it's over already?" he asked in disappointment, "And I finished today's training in record time."

"Makes me wonder what he's been doing for training," Medea murmured.

"You want to become a hero, too, right?" Aqua asked Hercules, "Strength alone won't make you into one."

"I know, I know. Strength alone won't make me a true hero," Hercules replied, "I'm starting to figure that out. When I look at you girls, and Zack, I get that feeling there's something more."

"But you got a strong heart, too, Herc," Luna insisted, "You'll become a true hero someday. I'm sure of it."

When he heard that, Hercules bent down to her level, and gave her a gentle pat on her shawled head. Luna giggled as that was going on.

"Thanks, Luna. It's nice to know who's supporting you," he said with a smile on her face.

After a few goodbyes to Hercules and Aqua, Luna left the coliseum and flew off to see if she can meet up with either Ventus, or her brother, for that matter. Unbeknownst to her, however, Vanitas saw her takeoff and vanished to another destination.


	13. Chapter 13 - Ch 12: Deep Space

**How about another chapter to get things going? Here we have Deep Space! Maybe some of you might question why I had Luna fight Experiment 221 rather than Terra, but I'm sure I can justify it if there are people who had trouble against that boss while playing with Terra. You know what I mean? Anyways, enjoy!**

**I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts, except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Chapter 12 – Deep Space

As Luna flew through the Lanes, she couldn't help but wonder where her brother might be right now. But all her thoughts were cut short when she saw jellyfish-shaped Unversed floating by, making her think that she has to clear them out in order to keep going. Despite being contained in a crimson barrier, she rammed into as many of the monsters as she could, knocking some of them out of sight. How the heck she was able to do that, she hadn't a clue; but it did make her wish that her Brace came with instructions on how to use it.

After a while, though, all the Unversed began to flee for some reason, making her wonder where they disappeared to. That is, until Luna heard something humming over her head; this made her look up to see a giant spaceship soaring over her, heading off to parts unknown. All of a sudden, she felt herself being pulled towards the ship against her urge to flee as fast as she can. The last thing she could remember was being reeled into the craft before she blacked out…

When she woke up, Luna found herself atop a plain, little bed in a small, dimly lit room. As she came to her senses, she quickly feared that she might've become a prisoner for reasons that had not been explained to her. It frightened her to know that she could be trapped in one place and be alone in a scary place.

"Luna!"

The moment she registered the masculine voice, Luna looked outside the door to find Terra running over to her cell to help her. She felt a lot of relief when her brother used his Keyblade to unlock the door so that she can get out, but they weren't out of the woods when the Unversed made their appearance.

"You ready for this?" Terra asked.

"You bet I am, Big Brother," Luna replied.

Brother and sister worked together to wipe out the hordes of Unversed that were causing trouble in the prison cell bay, watching each other's backs and taking out enemies one or the other can handle. Terra focused on the tougher enemies that came their way, while Luna used her Shadow Hands against the faster monsters that came to attack. When all the Unversed were taken care of, the two began to walk out of the place until…

"Very impressive display," a voice said with intrigue.

Baffled, Luna spun around to see a chubby alien in another prison cell.

"Hey! You help? I have been imprisoned on ridiculous charges!" the alien called.

Terra immediately stopped and looked back. "Is that so?"

"I am innocent scientist who created galaxy's most destructive – uh, constructive species of all time," the alien explained, "Why, my experiment could annihilate creatures you fought so hard! He is bulletproof, fireproof, and can think faster than supercomputer. He can see in the dark, and move objects 3,000 times his diminutive size. And for reasons preposterous, the Federation Council fears him. They take him away from me and throw me in small, stuffy, rather badly lit cell."

"Is it really powerful?" Luna asked, curious about what the experiment is.

"Exactly." The alien replied with a small frown. "Everyone always get antsy in pantses when somebody more powerful is in the neighborhood. You understand, perhaps?"

The siblings looked at each other, unsure of whether or not to believe him at first. But the idea of an experiment that could beat the Unversed sounded very tempting to look into for them; such a thing could be helpful, if at all.

"We must make to rescue him, or he'll be banished to far reach of space!" the alien implored.

"Should we let him out, Big Brother?" Luna asked.

"If we're going to find this experiment, we'll need him to take us to him," Terra replied as he made to open the prison cell door. Once again, he made use of his Keyblade and opened the cell door, allowing the alien to walk out of there and talk to them directly.

"Experiment 626: is name I gave to adorable, fluffy creature you are helping for to rescue," the alien explained to them, "and I am genius scientist who created him, Dr. Jumba Jookiba."

"I'm Terra."

"And I'm Luna."

"Pleasure is all ours. 626 is this way," Jumba said, "Hurry!"

With that, Luna and Terra followed Jumba through the spaceship's corridors looking for Experiment 626, all the while fighting off any Unversed that showed up to get in their way. On Luna's part, she allowed her brother to move on ahead to take out most of the Unversed while she stayed at the back, using her Shadow Hands to knock away any stragglers that tried to get to her and Jumba. As they were going through the ship, though, she couldn't help but notice the alien scientist's four eyes watching her with curious fascination. But it wasn't until Terra went outside the ship for a moment to check for trouble that she was taken aside for a little chat.

"Pardon, little girl, but you have strange power I never seen," Jumba noted to her, "How you able to make creepy hands do what you want? Be it true that you are a Shadow Mage, little girl – eh, Luna, is it?"

Dumbfounded at this, Luna answered hesitantly, "Well…yes, I am. Why, have you heard of the Shadow Mages, Jumba?"

"Ah, yes, Jumba has heard of 'em. They say they be people with hearts shielded by darkness rather than corrupted, and they can summon the dark to obey every whim," Jumba replied, "They powerful, indeed, but also fragile, I hear." He paused a moment, and shifted the topic slightly. "You also have Guardian, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Luna replied. "But she's recovering right now."

_"__What the hell are you doing, Luna?!"_ Medea demanded in her head, _"Why are you letting that weirdo know who you are? He's a crazy scientist, and you know that!"_

'I just think he might know something about what I am,' Luna replied in her mind.

"Ah, good, good," said the eccentric alien, "Then, you have Shadow Essence, right?"

That was where Luna got stumped. "What's a Shadow Essence?"

But before Jumba could explain to her what he was talking about, Terra returned to the ship empty-handed.

"Nothing out there," he said as he changed out of his armor. "We'll just have to keep looking."

"Okay, Big Brother," Luna agreed.

The three resumed their search through the ship, even going through chambers that meddled with the gravity of the entire area. It wasn't long until they finally found the containment room within the ship; inside they found a small, blue, animalistic creature with four arms, two antennae, and two large eyes and ears in an orange suit ranting in an alien language. There was no doubt in the siblings' minds that this was the experiment the scientist was looking for all along.

"Amazing, is he not? Such tremendous power in such an itty-bitty package," Jumba asked as he approached the small container holding Experiment 626. "Truly he is the one and that's the only – the mightiest creature in all of galaxy. And his only singular instinct – to destroy everything he touches, see?"

Brother and sister cried out, "What?!"

However, the shields around Experiment 626 went down, allowing the creature to look around until it jumped onto Terra, and searched all around him until it jumped off to the ceiling – with Terra's Wayfinder in his hand!

"When did you - ?!" Terra couldn't say much more due to shock.

"Give that back now!" Luna yelled.

"Too late, is already marked for destruction," Jumba said.

Desperate, her brother pleaded, "No, stop! My friend gave me that!"

Oddly, Terra's plea caught the attention of 626, making it puzzled over what he was saying as it stared at the Wayfinder.

"Are you joking?" the mad scientist protested, and laughed at them, "Such concept is totally lost on 626!"

But something happened that not even the evil genius saw coming: 626 hesitated for a moment, and then it lost interest in the Wayfinder before scampering off. As Terra picked up his charm, Luna couldn't help but wonder what made the little creature decide not to damage her brother's precious item.

"This whole time I've been telling myself I want to be stronger, more independent," Terra mused, "but the second I let my heart do the talking, I find out how little I know myself, and how much I miss them."

"Maybe our friends are the same way, too," Luna suggested.

They turned to face Jumba. "That experiment of yours…" Terra spoke first, "You sure about him?"

"Don't you think, in his heart, he just wants some friends?" Luna asked.

But Jumba was not buying it one bit. "Impossible! Pshah! He has no actual feelings – only destructive instincts I have carefully chosen for him. Or perhaps you need another demonstration of my evil geniusness!"

As he said this, he pulled out a small green ball and a beaker full of liquid, and dropped the ball into the liquid. All of a sudden, a reaction occurs, and a blinding flash filled the room. When the light subsided, another small creature made an appearance before Luna and Terra.

It was of similar size to 626, but it was yellow with predatory blue eyes and had two antennae that sparked electricity on and off; in fact, it sometimes sparked electricity across its entire body.

"Behold, Experiment 221! Fast and can control anything electrical on a whim!" Jumba declared proudly, "Let's see you match him, eh?"

The crazy scientist wasn't even kidding about the 'fast' part; in fact, it was so quick and agile that Terra had a hard time landing a hit on it without getting sideswiped by Experiment 221 or getting electrocuted. Luna feared that her brother would be in grave danger if left alone, so she decided to do something she never thought that she would do.

"Big Brother, let me get 'em!" Luna insisted, "I can catch up with him a little faster."

"But, Luna, you'll get hurt!" Terra protested.

However, Luna was not going to listen. "My Shadow Hands can catch it, and I can reach it better than you can!"

Reluctantly, Terra stepped aside, allowing Luna to charge right in and pursue the annoying electrical creature on her own. She kept chasing after it until she cornered and assaulted 221 with her Shadow Hands as swiftly as she could. In retaliation, 221 would unleash shots of electrical orbs at her or would charge up some sparks and sprint at her with a quick attack. But when the tides have turned in Luna's favor, the experiment got desperate and took control of the guns hanging on the ceiling and tried to shoot her into submission. Luna, however, got smart to it, and made use of the Shadow Stealth to escape the blasts and catch 221 by surprise and force it out of the guns; in fact, she makes use of the Shadow Stealth a couple times through the rest of the fight. Once she's beaten it enough, 221 faltered and changed back into the little green ball to the dismay of Jumba.

"Oh…you'll be alright, little one," he said as if he were comforting it.

Then, the three of them looked behind them to see that Experiment 626 had somehow returned.

"What is it? Why have you returned?" Jumba asked.

Experiment 626 replied with confused alien garble that seemed to mean something to Luna and Terra.

"Maybe he wants to know what a friend is," Luna speculated as she walked over to 626.

"You're probably right," Terra agreed.

"Ridiculous!"

Luna and Terra approached the confused 626 and spoke to him.

"My name is Terra."

"Te…rra…" 626 said back, learning his name.

"Mine is Luna."

626 looked over to her. "Lu…na…"

"We can't explain friendship," Terra said as he placed his hand where his heart would be.

"But you'll know it when you feel it," Luna added as she knelt down to the little alien.

"Not if I have any say in matter!" the doctor objected in frustration, "You are only meant to think about what it is you will destroy next. Now, I fix what is wrong with you."

Experiment 626 jabbered in protest until an alarm went off throughout the ship.

**"****Red alert. Red alert. Experiment 626 and three prisoners have escaped from the cell bay. Security, locate the fugitives immediately. Repeat, Experiment 626 and three prisoners…"**

_"__Crap! You gotta get outta here, Luna!"_ Medea yelled inside the child's head.

Luna turned to her brother in fear. "What're we gonna do, Big Brother?"

"Well, we can't stay here and get caught," her brother replied as he used his Keyblade to make a portal. He changed into his armor, and glided out of there as fast as he can.

But on Luna's part, she was in a serious dilemma: how was she going to get out of here? She can't make a portal like her brother can, and there's no open space for her to fly away. Suddenly, she felt something tug on her dress. She looked down to see that it was Experiment 626, and he appeared to be trying to pull her along.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Experiment 626 responded with gibberish, and pulled on her some more, making her trip a little bit.

_"__Maybe he noticed that you're in trouble, and he wants to help you,"_ Medea suspected. _"Why else would he be pulling on your dress like that?"_

"Do you know any doors I can get out from?" Luna asked in a pleading manner.

Experiment 626 jabbered in his alien language and suddenly grabbed Luna by her hand, pulling her along with him through the winding halls of the spaceship until the two of them reached a small-sized docking bay. Then, 626 let go of her hand, and crawled up the wall into the control room, breaking in with ease and playing around with the controls to open the door; at the same time, Luna's Teleport Brace activated and formed the protective barrier around her, just as the little experiment had found the big red button that would open the exit door. Even though she was inside that shield, she could feel a strong gust of wind pulling her out. She looked up to the control room, and could see Experiment 626 jabbering at her worriedly.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Luna shouted, "We'll find each other again, I promise!"

All of a sudden, Luna was sucked out of the ship and sent careening through the air at a very fast pace. The last thing that could be heard was her screaming echo as she was sent flying towards another world.


	14. Chapter 14 - Ch 13: Neverland

**Well, I'm actually quite surprised: someone left reviews like crazy and is eager for more. Well, to be nice, here we have Neverland! Like with a few of the worlds, I wanted to do something a little different since I have an OC involved. I hope this works. Enjoy!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for the OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 13 - Neverland

The next thing Luna knew was that she found herself plummeting into the water of a lagoon, but with the unfortunate timing of the barrier's dissipation, she ended up struggling to keep her head above the water. She kept flapping her arms wildly against the surface, and frantically kicking in a vain attempt to prevent herself from going under. She almost sank down into the depths until a hand wrapped under her arms, pulled her along, and heaved her up onto a flat rocky surface. Luna coughed out water for a moment, and looked over to find a black-haired mermaid swimming near her with concerned eyes.

"Are you alright, little girl?" the mermaid asked, "You almost drowned. How did that happen?"

"Now I am. Thanks," Luna replied as she wrung her dress, "I don't know how to tell you, but the last thing I knew was that I crashed into the water." She hung her head in embarrassment. "And I can't swim at all."

"Gee, that's too bad," the black-haired mermaid sighed sadly, "If you can't swim, then you'll be missing out on what you can explore, little girl."

Luna heard giggling sounds, and glanced up to see two other mermaids together, one with red hair in a ponytail and another with long yellow hair. She realized that they were giggling at her, and it made her sheepish at herself even further.

"I never thought a lost child wouldn't know how to swim," the red-haired mermaid said while shaking her head.

"Oh, if only Peter was here to see this. It would've been more amusing," the yellow-haired mermaid laughed haughtily.

Just hearing all of that somehow got the black-haired mermaid upset. "You girls should be ashamed of yourselves!" She turned toward Luna. "Just ignore what they said. You're still very young, and you're new here, right?"

Luna nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, I guess I am. Now I just have to find a way off this rock…"

"Hey, look, Ven! There's a little girl down here!"

Upon hearing the childish boy's voice, Luna looked up to see three heads peeking over the edge – two boys she wasn't familiar with, but one she certainly knew due to the blonde small-spiked hair. Ventus was here, and he's in the new world, too! It made her heart leap for joy that she had been found.

"Luna! What are you doing down there?" Ventus called from above.

"I fell into the water, and almost drowned," Luna replied from below, "but I'm okay now. What are you doing here?"

"We're lookin' for a shooting star," the little boy in the fox suit told her.

"Yeah, and Ven's coming with us," the boy in the bear suit added.

"Can you get me up to where you guys are?" Luna asked as she stood up on the rock.

The three boys looked at each other with unsure faces, and back to Luna.

But the boys didn't have any time to discuss amongst themselves when a tiny pixie flitted down the edge to Luna's position. Luna stared in awe as she saw the blonde-haired fairy examine her closely with narrow eyes, before fluttering at her with uncertainty.

"Hello. Who are you?" Luna asked innocently. The pixie moved her hands like she's introducing herself. "Oh, your name's Tinker Bell? I'm Luna. Can you help me get to Ventus? He's my friend, and I don't want to stay down here."

Tinker Bell nodded, and flew above Luna's head, all the while sprinkling little bits of dust on her. With the eagerness of seeing Ventus again, it helped her start flying up to the boys and land into her friend's hands safely.

"So, where were you going, Ven?" Luna asked.

"We're heading to the Indian Camp. That's where the shooting star fell," Ventus explained as he helped her on her feet, "You wanna come along? It'd be a lot safer for you than just staying here all by yourself."

"Do the boys mind?" she had to ask since she saw the Lost Boys looking at her with curiosity.

"Sure. We don't mind," the boy in the fox suit replied bluntly.

"But we gotta keep movin'," the boy in bear suit added.

The search team was about to get moving when Luna suddenly heard a splash, and Ventus jumped a bit in reaction. She turned around to see the blonde-haired mermaid staring at them with a devilish smirk on her face, making Luna groan angrily at her. However, this prank caused Medea to emerge from the shadows with a very irritated look on her face.

"That conniving, witchy little…!" Medea growled with an urge to murder someone.

"Not now, Medea," Luna stopped her, "Let's just go."

Reluctantly, her Guardian relented and they followed the boys all the way to a jungle clearing where an old-looking tree stood in the middle. When they did get there, though, everyone heard a birdcall and looked around, wondering what was making that sound. Then, from the sky, they saw a young boy flying in the sky; he wore a green cap, tunic, tights, and brown shoes. The little boys got excited when they saw him.

"Peter Pan!"

When Peter Pan – as he was called – flew down, he took a look at Ventus, Luna, and Medea like they're something new to see.

"Who do we have here? Never seen you three before," he said.

"I'm Ventus. Call me Ven."

"And I'm Luna."

"Call me Medea."

"Well…if you say so," Peter said, as if he didn't care. He walked over to the Lost Boys and shouted, "Ten-shun!" They immediately saluted him. "Now then, men: I don't suppose you wanna capture some real pirate treasure?"

"Real pirate treasure? Sure!"

"Well, guess who caught sight of Hook right when he was stashing his treasure?" Peter continued, "Whaddaya say we sneak in and grab it?"

Instantly, the boys got very excited about the prospect of pirate treasure. But an upset Tinker Bell flew over to the boys and kicked each of them in the face, and then flew over to Peter with an angry look on her face.

"Tinker Bell, what's gotten into you?" Peter asked, confused at her reaction.

"We were all supposed to go hunt for a shooting star together," Ventus replied.

"Yeah, and it's at a camp somewhere…so I heard," Luna added, trying to reason with him.

"Forget that. Pirate treasure is way more fun," Peter insisted, seemingly not giving a darn about it. "Tink, you're coming with us!"

But Tinker Bell fumed at him, and flew over to sit on Luna's shawled head.

"Well, that's no way to respond to an invitation." Peter turned toward Ventus. "C'mon, Ven, I'd bet you and Luna are a better sport than her, right?"

"I'm starting to wonder if you ever have the common sense to think about how a girl feels when things don't go her way," Medea retorted irritably.

"We'd love to, but first we wanna find the shooting star," Ventus replied adamantly.

"Sorry, Peter. Our fairy friend comes first," Luna agreed as she invited Tinker Bell to come to her shoulder.

As the three continued on to find the shooting star Tinker Bell spoke about, Luna glanced back a moment to see Peter and the boys run off elsewhere to look for pirate treasure. It made her wonder if the leader ever did think about those who are close to him, considering how he seemed to have more interest in what boys love to do than a girl's curiosity. Her mental questions were silenced when she felt Tinker Bell tugging on one of her curls, as if she were saying 'never mind them'.

"Sorry…I got distracted, didn't I?" Luna said while rubbing her head. "I don't get why Peter's like that. Is he always such a bossy guy?"

Tinker Bell folded her arms and shook her head with a frustrated face that clearly said 'you'd be surprised about him'.

"Oh, well. I guess it's just you and me, huh, Tink?" Luna agreed.

"You seriously know what's on that little pixie's mind?" Medea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know why…maybe I just know."

With their pixie friend at the lead, the three found their way to the Indian Camp, where several cone-shaped tepees can be found; but Luna noticed that the place was completely deserted. _Maybe everybody went off somewhere else_, she thought. But what caught her attention was where Tinker Bell was looking; and it was no surprise that Ventus would notice it, too. It was no shooting star they found: it was Mickey's Star Shard! They ran over to inspect the Star Shard, but someone else had beaten them to it, and also had grabbed Tinker Bell in the process. From the look of the unexpected intruder, Luna and Ventus saw that the two men are pirates; one was dressed as if he were a leader with his big plumed hat and red coat and a hook for a hand, while the other wore a striped shirt and shorts with a red cap and sandals.

"A shooting star and a pixie!" the pirate with the hook said with an evil chuckle, "Must be me birthday."

"Let Tinker Bell go!" Ventus demanded.

"Yeah, let her go or we'll make you!" Luna agreed with her Shadow Hands ready.

"Three of Peter Pan's brats," the pirate sneered, "Well, tell that cowardly sparrow if he wants his precious Tinker Bell back, he'd best meet me at Mermaid Lagoon!"

Unfortunately for them, the pirates ran off with the Star Shard and Tinker Bell; and just when they were about to give chase, the Unversed made their appearance to get in the way.

"Get outta our way!" Medea growled.

"We gotta get Tink!" Luna cried worriedly.

"Let's get rid of them first, and then go get her!" Ventus reminded her.

Left with no other option, Luna, Ventus, and Medea had to fight off the monsters in order to leave the area. Things got even more challenging with the ape-like creatures and the totem pole monsters making their own appearances; in fact, on Luna's part, she had to rely on Medea in order to take advantage of any openings against them. By the time they were done with the monsters, they had to catch their breaths before setting out to find help. But they were too late; their fairy friend was nowhere to be found.

"We lost them," Ventus said sadly.

"What're we gonna do?" Luna asked with concern.

"Where the hell is that bird-boy when we need him?" Medea groaned in frustration, "You'd think that he'd know when his friends are in danger."

She spoke too soon when they heard Peter shout, "Look out below!"

All three turned around to see Peter Pan coming down to see them. Although they were relieved to know he had come, they had more pressing matters at hand.

"Peter, Tink's been pixie-napped!" Luna exclaimed, "By a bad pirate!"

Boy, Peter was upset at this. "Then I'm too late. Hook's gonna pay for this!"

"He said to meet him at Mermaid Lagoon," Ventus told him.

"Gotta be an ambush," Peter suspected, "Hmph! That old codfish thinks he clever."

"We'll go, too!"

"We wanna help!" Luna added.

Peter smiled at them and replied, "Then we'd better hurry. Think you can keep up?"

"Hell, yeah, we will!" Medea answered with a cocky smirk.

Following Peter Pan's lead, the trio hurried down the path to the Mermaid Lagoon. As far as Luna is concerned, she knew that they had to go there if they want to help their pixie friend; but the one thing she failed to mention to him was how she ended up at that location and had to deal with a rude blonde mermaid earlier. She hoped that she doesn't have to deal with her again, or let that witchy creature harass her friends for that matter. If anything, Medea would probably want to kill that fishy lady for acting like a snob.

Thankfully, for the moment, she didn't have to: when they arrived at the lagoon, they heard the faint sound of a boom, and were taken by surprise when a cannonball nearly hit them upon arrival. Everyone, including Peter, stumbled a bit the moment a hit was made on the ground.

"What was that?" Luna asked fearfully.

"Cannon fire? Where's it coming from?" Ventus wondered the same thing.

"Over there, on the water!" Peter directed them as he pointed toward something from a distance.

Luna looked over to see a ship anchored far off from the lagoon, and could see that the cannonballs were coming from the vessel. But she had no time to question what it is when another cannonball shot towards them, forcing everyone to take cover. In the midst of the cannon fire, a familiar little pixie arrived on the scene, safe and sound.

"Hey, looks who's here!" Medea said as she took notice quickly.

"Tink, it's you! And you're alright!" Peter exclaimed with relief. Luna smiled when she saw this happy sight. _Maybe he really does care for his friends after all_, she thought.

In the meantime, Tinker Bell was just telling her leader what had happened to her.

"What? A strange fellah with a funny-lookin' sword has…" Peter was about to ask, but was cut off when more cannon fire startled them. "Hold on. I gotta stop that cannon!"

"Okay. We'll go after Hook!" Ventus agreed.

"You bet your ass we will, Ven!" Medea declared eagerly.

"Tink, if you would?" Peter asked his fairy friend.

Tinker Bell nodded, and began flying in circles are Luna and Ventus, until the both of them felt light as a feather. Luna knew what she was doing, but her blonde-haired friend didn't have a clue what was happening. He looked like he was about to ask what she did, but Peter informed them immediately what was up.

"It's pixie dust. Bet you feel lighter, don't ya?" he said.

Before Ventus could ask any more questions, Peter and Tinker Bell already flew off towards the pirate ship to stop the cannons. Knowing that her friend needs help understanding what to do, Luna decided to show him the ropes.

"It's easy, Ven. All you gotta do is think something nice, and you can fly," Luna told him, "That's what helped me be able to reach you when I was stuck down below."

Nearly instantly, Luna began to lift off the ground and fly around a little bit, leaving Ventus amazed at the new development. Then, she watched as he thought about something positive, and then he started to fly along with her; he was bewildered about it at first, but then he started to enjoy it as he got used to being off the ground.

"You see? What did I tell you, Ven?" Luna asked with a smile on her face.

"So, how is Medea going to follow us if she doesn't have pixie dust?" Ventus asked with concern.

"Let me worry about that," Medea replied.

Using her shadowy powers, Medea formed a pair of wings on her back and began to soar through the sky like a hawk, allowing her to keep up with them. Then, the three of them began to fly through the lagoon to search for where Hook could possibly be while his ship was blasting away at the place. It was a bit of trouble for them until Luna noticed the black-haired mermaid waving to her from a distance; thinking that it might be something important, she flew down to find out what was up.

"Hi. Do you happen to know where Hook is?" Luna asked.

"I saw him in the cove, not far from here," the black-haired mermaid replied, "I can lead you to him, but be careful. He doesn't take too kindly to anyone who sides with Peter Pan."

Ventus floated down when he heard this. "Hey, Luna, have you found out where Hook is?"

"Yeah, and this mermaid is going to help us," Luna replied, "Let's go teach that pirate a lesson."

"I'm not gonna ask how she trusts a mermaid," Medea muttered to herself.

Slowly and cautiously, the trio followed the black-haired mermaid down a watery path toward the cove entrance; there, they found another mermaid – the red-haired one – waiting for her friend, and she appeared to be frightened. That was a sure warning to them that Hook is nearby, and that he's not there to sightsee.

"He's just down that way," the black-haired mermaid whispered, "Be careful, and keep an eye out for the crocodile."

"You make sure that pirate doesn't attack the lagoon ever again," the red-haired mermaid agreed.

"We'll make sure he doesn't." Ventus promised. "Let's go, Luna."

"Let's go get 'em," Luna agreed eagerly.

They followed the path further down until they found Captain Hook standing on a platform, impatiently tapping his feet with his arms folded. Then, he put his hand to his ear, trying to listen for the sound of defeat, and then looked as if he had finally achieved victory with a mockery of mourning.

"Alas, and so passeth a worthy opponent," he said with belief that his foe is no more. "To think that his would be such an inglorious end…" He then let out a devious cackle out his mouth as he thought he had won. "At last, that scurvy brat will never trouble me again!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Hook!" Ventus called out, ready to fight.

"We wouldn't let you win!" Luna agreed.

"Man, you gotta be one hell of an idiot to think a kid could be beaten so easily," Medea scoffed at the baffled pirate.

Captain Hook was stunned to see the three in the cove with him alive. "Swoggle me eyes! No, don't tell me!" He ran over to the edge, and pulled out his telescope to see that his first mate had been all tied up and Peter Pan was tapping his chest triumphantly. The captain was so furious at this that he slammed his telescope to the ground.

"Blast that Peter Pan!"

Outraged that he had been bested again, Hook ran over to another rocky platform and drew his sword out to challenge the three to a fight, but was stopped when the sound of a ticking clock began to chime within the cove. He suddenly became scared, and looked around to find where it was coming from.

"That sound!" he whined fearfully. Then, he turned around abruptly to find a crocodile anxiously awaiting his meal, causing the pirate captain to panic and back away. "No! Not again!" Hook cried out, "S-Stay away from me!"

Luna, Ventus, and Medea took advantage of the distraction and jumped onto the platform Hook is on so as to make sure he doesn't get away from them, ready to settle the score with the dastardly pirate once and for all.

"I don't think so!" Ventus warned.

"You're not going anywhere, ya dirty coward!" Medea agreed.

"You're a jerk!" Luna chimed.

The fight against Captain Hook was by far the most chaotic battle they had ever dealt with; mainly due to the fact that the pirate had some mean sword skills and bombs to back up his pathetic looks. Ventus pulled out the hard physical attacks while Luna used her Shadow Hands to push Captain Hook off the edge to the crocodile whenever she could, leading to a hilarious struggle for the captain to get back to land.

"You scurvy brats…!" Hook shouted angrily as he regained his footing on land, "Here's some presents for ya!"

That was when he tossed little boxes at the trio in an attempt to hit them; but each of them got smart to it and moved out the way. Luna used her Shadow Stealth to escape the blast, while Medea took to the skies and carried Ventus out of range. After that, it was pretty much a rinse and repeat in the fight until Luna summoned a Shadow Hand to grab Captain Hook and throw him farther into the water than normal.

When he finally surfaced, he struggled to keep himself afloat, but he couldn't relax for long when he saw the crocodile ready to come after him. The cowardly pirate jumped in fright, and thrashed hysterically on the water.

"Leave me alone!" he screamed as he ran along the water's surface comically, "Help me, Smee! Smeeeeeeee!"

Luna and Medea burst out laughing while Ventus looked on, proud that they showed Captain Hook who's boss.

"That was so funny! I wish Big Brother was here to see this!" Luna laughed.

"Damn, that pirate is such a freaking wuss!" Medea said as she cackled, "It makes me wonder why he even bothered having such a career if he can't handle a crocodile."

"Ahoy! Look what we brought!"

The three turned around to see the two boys return on a rowboat with a big treasure chest, and Peter Pan is seen flying alongside them. They rendezvoused to the entrance of the cove to take a look at the biggest find they'd ever seen.

"Is this a treasure chest?" Luna asked excitedly.

"Yup! The same chest I told ya about," Peter replied proudly, "We snatched it from Hook's hiding place."

"Well, let's get this over with and see what's in it," Medea demanded.

But when Peter opened the treasure chest, everyone was shocked to see that the chest was empty; well, except for the Lost Boys.

"Huh? How come it's empty?" Peter asked in shock.

"Uh, sorry…but we losted all the treasures," the boy in the bear suit replied sadly.

"Oh, well…that's too bad," Ventus said in disappointment.

"Aw, who needs it?" Peter replied, "It was prob'ly just full of dumb old jewels or doubloons or somethin' anyways."

Then, the boy in the fox suit got an idea. "We could just put what we treasure in there inside – if you wanna?"

Peter grinned in approval. "Good idea! Instead of fillin' it up with jewels and gold and stuff, we'll put in what's truly special to us; the real riches!"

A few minutes later, the boys brought in their personal treasures of toy weapons and tools, and put them into the treasure chest. Luna thought it was pretty silly that they would do that, but it was better than just letting such a useful container go to waste; she could tell how proud they were when they put in their stuff.

"What are you puttin' in there, Ven?" Peter asked, directing it toward Ventus.

Luna watched as Ventus thought about it for a moment, unsure of what to put into the chest as well. Then, she saw him search all over him until he pulled out his wooden Keyblade and showed it to Peter; she immediately identified it as the keepsake that her brother had given to Ven early on.

"How 'bout this?" he asked as he showed his keepsake.

Peter looked at with curiosity. "What is it?"

"It's…just something that one of my best friends gave me," Ventus replied.

"So, it's like a keepsake, huh? You sure you wanna part with somethin' that special?"

"I don't need it if I've got Terra, Aqua, and Luna," Ventus replied confidently. "Our best memories are still ahead."

As Ventus put his keepsake into the chest, Peter turned his attention to Luna.

"What about you, Luna? What are you putting into the chest?" he asked.

As she thought about it, Luna looked all over her, wondering what she could put into the treasure chest. She looked down at her moonstone brooch, but decided against it since it was a gift from her brother. But then, she put her hands to her head, and got an idea on what to do; she untied the shawl from her head, took it off, and put the black cloth into the chest.

"I think I'll put this in," Luna answered as she tucked the shawl into the chest, "I don't see why I have to wear that thing, when I could go for something else."

Medea was puzzled about that. "Y'know, I really don't get why you wore that thing in the first place? Is that grandpa of yours trying to hide some kind of beauty you have?"

"Not to my knowledge, no," Luna replied, "But it's pointless now. I'd rather let people see me without hiding something they'd like to look at."

"All right, then. Next time ya visit, we'll have an even bigger chest waitin'," Peter promised, "enough for all those treasures and lots more."

Ventus smiled at this. "Okay. It's a deal."

"Good luck with that," Medea said while rolling her eyes.

Just then, Luna spotted Tinker Bell carrying Mickey's Star Shard, and was about to put it into the chest as well.

"Oh, wait, Tink. I think that belongs to a friend of ours," Ventus stopped her; "Do you think maybe I could hang on to it?"

Tinker Bell shook her head in refusal, and was about to carry on with what she was doing, until…

"Now, Tink!" Peter warned firmly.

The pixie flinched at the warning, and silently sighed in defeat; she reluctantly flew over to Ventus, and gave the Star Shard to him.

"Thank you."

Luna could easily see that Tinker Bell was upset that she didn't get to put something into the chest herself, so she wondered what she could do to cheer up the disappointed pixie. Then, a bright idea came into her mind.

"Hey, Tink, what if I looked for something star-shaped just like that shard thing," Luna suggested, "and the next time we meet, I can give it to you to put in the chest? Is that okay with you?"

Tinker Bell smiled and nodded 'alright, you got a deal', and flitted over to kiss Luna on the cheek happily. She couldn't help but giggle at the pixie's energy, making it hard for her to believe that she's already friends with such a small creature.

But the mood was spoiled when she heard a splash, and heard Ventus jump and yelp out in shock. Immediately, she turned to see the same blond-haired mermaid who insulted her before, only this time the horrible woman was doing this more than once. Not only did it make her angry at this mermaid's behavior, but it also caught Medea's attention and made the Guardian angry as well.

"What the hell's your problem, you fishy freak?!" Medea snapped.

At that moment, Luna immediately sensed a dark aura yards away from the cove; she wondered where it could be coming from, but she didn't like the idea of leaving Ventus alone so suddenly.

"Hey, Ven, there's something I gotta look into," she said while turning to him, "Can you tell Peter I said goodbye for me?"

"Okay…but where are you going?" Ventus asked hesitantly, "Is it something that requires my help?"

Luna hesitated for a moment. "No…I'll be okay on my own. Just do something about that mermaid while I'm gone."

Immediately, Luna ran off from the cove with Medea following right behind her. But when she arrived at the Mermaid Lagoon, she looked around to find nothing malevolent in the area. It made her wonder what she was sensing anyway, and where the aura could've disappeared to; even her Guardian was getting a bad feeling about this, too.

"Something's not right here," Medea warned darkly, "It's almost as if this was a setup to nab you on the spot."

"But who would do that?" Luna asked.

Suddenly, without warning, a corridor of darkness appeared right behind her back; before Luna could react; a pair of hands reached out behind her, grabbed her by her mouth and left arm, and pulled her into the portal. Medea, sensing this, rushed right in behind her and followed her just as the portal had closed on them.


	15. Chapter 15 - Ch 14: Shadow Essence

**Okay, here we go...another chapter. Now, I'm pretty sure that some of those who've been reading my work (or reviewing for that matter) will get confused as to what's going on here. Well, without spoiling too much, the idea is that Vanitas was developing an emotion he shouldn't have, and created an Essence in order to get rid of that emotion (what manner of emotion it is open for guesses). That being said, enjoy!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for the OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames here.**

Chapter 14 – Shadow Essence

One moment Luna was being pulled into the dark portal, and the next she found herself in a shadowy place that nearly makes her skin crawl in pure fear. She found herself on the ground – wherever it is – and soon her Guardian was right next to her, and Medea looked ready to fight off whatever, or whoever, was responsible for such a heinous act. The two of them glanced over their shoulders to find Vanitas was there, and he seemed to be quite proud of his dirty work since he was approaching them like a stalker would to their target.

"Well, it's about time I found you, sweetie," he said without care, "I almost thought that you had forgotten me after our meeting in Radiant Garden. But considering how you've been busy, I'm willing to let it slide."

"I should've known it was you!" Medea growled angrily, "Everywhere we go, you're always bound to cause a lot more trouble than you give yourself credit for!"

"You've got some serious anger issues, Guardian," Vanitas hissed coldly, "But no matter. I wasn't going to talk to you anyway. I've got important matters to settle with the little princess here."

A strange black aura formed around him, then stretched out enough to unleash several Flood Unversed to tackle down and trap Medea in one spot. When he was done, the aura settled down, and he slowly approached the frightened Luna until he was within arm's reach.

"Now, then, we can get down to business," he said.

"What do you want?" Luna asked timidly.

The moment she asked that question, she immediately noticed that something was not right about Vanitas: the closer he moved towards her, he seemed to have dropped his cold, arrogant exterior and switched into an uneasy, almost cautious gesture. If she could ever see his face, she wondered if he's feeling nervous or lost in his own thoughts. Either way, whatever's going on with him is not the usual taunting or depravity she had seen in the previous worlds she visited, but a contemplating mood.

"The old man's getting wary of you, Luna. And it won't be long until he perceives you as a threat," he said emotionlessly, "But that's not all there is to it. Ventus has a very important role to play, and – personally – I'd rather you not get involved in the matter. If you make one wrong move, then you'll get involved in affairs that would prove too much for a child's mind to bear. After that, well, what are the odds that you'll be badly broken?"

The moment Luna heard him say this, she recalled back in Deep Space when she was speaking with Jumba before, and she heard him mention how Shadow Mages were powerful but fragile and didn't know why that is so. What she was hearing right now confused her even more: what was he trying to tell her? Why would he say that she would be broken? Nothing made sense to her now.

"I don't get it. I don't know what you're talking about," she said weakly, "Why are you telling me this?"

Vanitas sighed deeply as he turned his head in her direction. "Did you ever wonder why I persuaded you to leave home? Did you ever wonder why I pressured you into awakening your Guardian from her slumber? Did you ever wonder why I watched you whenever I could, knowing that your involvement up till now has been a dangerous gamble?" He paused for a moment. "After your Guardian awoke, I secretly sought out information regarding your species. But that was initially difficult to do, and for good reason: not many people know about them, and many of the Shadow Mages are out of the picture. It wasn't until I found that four-eyed alien that I finally learned something: for an evil genius, he had enough time to study the Shadow Mages, and he even went so far as to tell me about Shadow Essences. Did he ever tell you about the Shadow Essences?"

Luna shook her head 'no'. "He didn't get to tell me when Big Brother got back."

"I thought so. It's a remnant of an individual who either went through a tragic death or is about to lose a part of whom they are," he explained, "The Shadow Essence, you could say, is an additional form of power that Shadow Mages can use alongside their Guardian. When one possesses a Shadow Essence, the wielder can use the abilities of the remnant's source against greater dangers."

As Vanitas was talking about all this, Medea couldn't help but be in shock at this information being leaked out. _So that's why he's been stalking her this entire time!_ She thought angrily; _He was hoping to make sure that she gets powerful enough so that she can inherit something that she wasn't told about before_. The notion of his dirty work made her more outraged with him than ever; as much as she wanted to break free and let loose some hell on Vanitas, she was still being held tight, and she can't do anything right now.

"I don't remember Grandpa telling me all that before," Luna suddenly said.

"Of course he wouldn't tell you: a child like you wouldn't be able to get it through your thick head," Vanitas replied as he scoffed at the mention of Eraqus, "Trust me, he had plenty of chances to try and ensure you understood your background and your talent, but he squandered it all by attempting to keep you from learning your potential. Well, guess what? I'm about to correct that."

What happened next occurred much too fast for Luna and Medea to handle; Vanitas grabbed Luna's arms and held them up with one hand, while a dark energy rapidly formed in his other hand. Then, without warning, he roughly pressed his hand against her chest and a strong jolt made Luna almost jump in shock, but the surge disappeared as quickly as it entered her body. When it was all over, Vanitas let go of her arms and let her drop to her knees.

At that moment, Medea finally found the strength to tear herself free from the Floods that trapped her in their clutches, and rushed over to Luna to see if she was alright. She was able to see flickers of that energy Vanitas sent into Luna before it completely vanished; she turned to face him with an anger that she really wished she could unleash right now.

"What'd you do to her?" she demanded. "What'd you put into her?"

"Isn't it obvious, Medea? It's my Essence," he replied as he backed away, "Don't worry about whether she'll use it. She's not ready for it, so it'll sleep until she's gotten stronger."

Before either Luna or Medea could ask any more questions, a bright light could be seen from a distance. Even Vanitas seemed to be aware of this; he turned to walk away from them.

"This is where we part for now, Luna," he said calmly, "Keep what I told you in mind, you hear me?"

"But what are…" Luna was unable to ask any questions when he disappeared from view.

The next thing they knew was that the bright light came closer to them, and then they were engulfed by the radiance. The next thing they knew was that they woke up and found themselves near a path to an enormous, oddly structured tower that neither has ever seen before.


	16. Chapter 16 - Ch 15: Mysterious Tower

**Hoo boy! The road to trouble is getting closer and closer... Anyways, I have to confess that it was pretty interesting that Yen Sid, the sorcerer from Fantasia, has a role in the Kingdom Hearts franchise (even though he first appeared in KH 2). I always thought he was kinda cool. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Chapter 15 – The Mysterious Tower

Luna had no idea why, but something about the tall, mystical tower was just quietly calling out to her, like she's supposed to be meeting somebody here; she just didn't have the faintest idea who would want to see her, though. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, she slowly walked over to the door and opened it to see a stairway leading up the tower, but nobody was there to know she's here.

"I wonder who lives in a lonely place like this," Luna wondered.

"I dunno, but something about this place screams 'magic' all over the environment," Medea replied as she looked around cautiously.

The moment she stepped inside, Luna felt that enigmatic pull luring her to the stairs. Letting her instincts guide her, she began to trek up the steps with Medea following close behind her until she finally reached a door settled at the top of the stairway. Her first idea was to simply open the door, but somewhere in the back of her head, something commanded her to think before she acts; with that in mind, she reached out with a lightly clenched fist and was about to knock until she heard a deep, aged voice from the other side.

"Come in, child. Do not be afraid."

Luna nearly jumped when she heard somebody speak as if that person knew she was there, but Medea was able to coax her into doing what the voice told her to do. Nervously, the timid child opened the door wide, and she found not only Ventus standing between two anthropomorphic creatures – a duck and a dog-like animal - dressed like a wizard and a knight, but she also saw an elderly bearded man with a pointed hat and blue sorcerer's robe seated across. Ventus turned around first, and was stunned to see her coming in with Medea; then the duck and his dog-like companion followed suit and were amazed to see her. The sorcerer, however, simply opened his eyes and stared straight at Luna as if he anticipated her arrival from the start.

"You must be Luna. Eraqus told me much about you as well," the sorcerer said to her. He looked a little ways to her Guardian. "And you must be Medea, her Shadow Guardian. I'm surprised that you awoke so early, but perhaps it has helped your master thus far."

"It's…nice to meet you, sir," Luna replied shyly, "But…how did you know I'd be coming here as well? I didn't follow Ven."

"I guess the moment I was brought in here, Yen Sid had us wait a moment until you came here yourself," Ventus speculated, "Something tells me he knew I wasn't the only one who ran off."

Luna turned bright red on her face, and lowered her head down in embarrassment.

"Indeed, that is true," Yen Sid agreed, "If I am not mistaken, you both were ordered to return home."

Luna and Ventus looked at each other in guilt, and were about to explain themselves, but the wise sorcerer put his hand up and they closed their mouths.

"No matter. Mickey has difficulty following directions, too," he reassured them. "Now then, where is the clue to Mickey's whereabouts?"

"I've got it!" the duck announced as he put the Star Shard onto the desk.

"This feller Venquist…Ventilate…Veggie…" the dog-like knight began, but fumbled with his words.

Annoyed, the duck cried out, "Just call him Ven!"

"That's what the kid seems to go by quite often," Medea agreed while rolling her eyes.

The duck finished what his partner started, "Ven had it when he got here."

"Please, explain."

Luna listened as Ventus explained, "Luna and I ran into Mickey. But we got sent flying into the light…I don't know where he went."

The duck and the dog flopped forward in dismay, not liking the news. Luna wondered if the two are friends with Mickey, which would explain why they would be so desperate to find out where he could be during a crisis like this. Yen Sid took in the information thoughtfully, and turned to Luna.

"Would you happen to know where Mickey is, Luna?" Yen Sid asked her.

Luna searched her memory for a moment, and then replied, "The last time I saw Mickey was when I helped him and Aqua fight those monsters at a castle. After that, I don't know where he went off to."

Her information apparently didn't help much, especially when the duck and dog sighed even deeper and slumped forward a little more.

"He wasn't in the same world as the one where we found that," Ventus added.

Yen Sid's brows furrowed into a concerned frown. "As I thought…Mickey has been hurling himself from one world to the next. That explains why I could not discern his location."

"You can now, can you?" the duck asked.

"Yes, I can." With a wave of his hands, Yen Sid cast a spell, and created a circle of clouds that parted long enough to show the image of Mickey in the same desert environment that rang a bell to Luna, Ventus, and Medea.

In that image, Mickey was struggling to get up, but was too badly beaten down by something – or someone – to be able to move; the most the poor mouse could do was collapse and slip into unconsciousness. It hurt Luna to see her friend in need of help, and yet she had no idea what could be done to aid him. But then, the image began to fade, and the spell wore off until it was gone, to the horror of the duck and the dog-like knight.

"What happened?" the duck exclaimed, "Where'd he go? Is he okay?"

"There is a dark and powerful force that is interfering with my magic," Yen Sid replied as he frowned.

"Just tell us where the King is, Mr. Yen Sid, sir," the knight requested as he stood strong, "and me and Donald will go right there and save him!"

"You two?" the sorcerer asked skeptically, "That may not be adequate."

"But I'm the captain of the King's royal knights!" the knight insisted as he summoned his shield.

"And I'm his magician!" the duck added as he summoned his staff.

But Ventus had something to say. "I'll find him. I recognize the place we saw."

"If you go, we'll go with you!" the duck declared, eager to tag along.

"No, I owe him," Ventus insisted, "Mickey saved me and Luna once. And I can't risk putting his friends in danger." The twosome sighed in disappointment. "Don't worry. I swear I'll bring him back safe."

Yen Sid nodded in agreement. "Very well, Ventus. We will leave it to you."

That was when Luna tried to step in. "I'll go with you, Ven. I wanna know if Mickey's okay, too."

But Ventus wouldn't have that. "No, Luna. You have to stay here, where it's safe. And don't take it too personally. I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all."

She lowered her head sadly. "Okay…"

She watched as Ventus left the chamber and ran down the stairs to leave the tower, and when she was sure he was not within sight, Luna decided that she can't stay here either. But just when she was about to leave, Yen Sid stopped her.

"Luna, wait a moment. There is a matter about you that needs attending," he told her.

Hesitantly, Luna turned around and walked over to the desk to face Master Yen Sid. She wasn't sure what's so important that it requires her attention, but she didn't want to refuse a request like that either. For a moment, she could tell that even Medea is uncertain as to what is on this wise elder's mind after all the trouble they went through.

"I had known that Ventus would run away from home, but what puzzled me was how you were able to leave home without the regular means. There must have been some form of anomaly I couldn't identify," Yen Sid explained. He held a hand out to her, as if expecting something from her. "Show me your arm – the one that carries the anomaly in question."

Luna gulped in fear as she lifted her right arm and showed him the Teleport Brace. When she did, the duck and the dog jumped in shock at the sight of the strange bauble around her wrist; but Yen Sid's eyes narrowed as he observed the bracelet.

"So, that bracelet is the reason you succeeded in leaving home. That explains the anomaly I sensed for quite a while, but couldn't pinpoint the cause," he said as he stroked his beard, "Tell me where you got it. Or rather, who gave it to you?"

"No use lyin' to the old man, Luna," Medea warned when Luna tried to turn to her for help, "Your buddies may not have known what let ya out, but I think others might've figured it out early on."

Luna took a breath, turned around, and answered, "I got it from Vanitas. He said that it would help me be able to follow Ven, since I can't use a Keyblade like he and Aqua and Big Brother can. I've used it to see the different worlds, and during all my searching, I've met up with them and learned what they were going through." She paused for a moment. "Was it wrong for me to jump at the chance and take this thing when it was offered?"

Yen Sid shook his head at the question. "Perhaps it was a foolish choice on your part, but I will admit that your mistake was not entirely harmful – after all, your pursuit allowed us to finally meet face to face. However, I fear that your actions will also cause you great pain if you continue your journey. Be careful with the choices you make the moment you leave, Luna."

Despite her unease with Yen Sid's word of warning to her, Luna felt that she can't stop her journey just yet; not until she has found something worthwhile in her travels. She turned and walked out the door and traversed back down the stairs with Medea following right behind her; she could tell that something was on her Guardian's mind.

"There's something off about this visit with Gramps," Medea finally spoke, "I can see that he's a pretty smart wizard, but what I don't get is what he's tellin' ya. It's almost like he knows somethin' about you that you haven't figured out yourself. What the hell is that old man hiding?"

"I don't know, Medea. Maybe Master Yen Sid doesn't want to scare me or hurt me," Luna replied while uncertain herself, "But what was he trying to tell me when he said I'd be in great pain if I continued my travels?"

Medea scoffed a bit. "How should I know?"

But when they arrived at the entrance door, Luna heard footsteps right behind her, and stopped in her tracks. She turned around to find that the duck and the dog had followed her, and they appeared to be very concerned.

"Are ya sure you wanna leave?" the dog asked worriedly, "Y'know that Ven wanted you to be safe, so why are you going so soon?"

"Yeah, we don't wanna let you go alone," the duck added.

"It's just…something that I have to do," Luna replied as she approached them, "When I left home, the reason I wanted to was because I wanted to follow Ven because he was leaving. But then I met some nice people, and they've told me in their own ways that I can find much more than what I'd thought. I don't want to stop now, not until I've seen what there is to offer. And…well…I just know that there's something out there that can fill in whatever I'm missing."

"Take it from me, boys. Once her mind's set on something, she's not gonna slow down until she gets it," Medea agreed.

The duck and dog glanced at each other thoughtfully for a moment, and then turned back to Luna.

"Gawrsh, well, in that case, at least let us tell ya our names," the dog said, "My name's Goofy."

"And I'm Donald Duck," Donald added.

Luna smiled at them. "Okay, Donald, Goofy, it was nice to meet you two. But I really have to go. I'll be back later, you'll see."

Before Donald and Goofy could stop her, Luna rushed out the door and into the open. As her bracelet began to glow again, her Guardian immediately sank into her shadow and disappeared. Then, the Teleport Brace formed the barrier, and Luna soared away from the tower.


	17. Chapter 17 - Ch 16: Destiny Islands

**And now...the calm before the storm. I have to be honest, I thought that it'd make things more interesting if Riku did have someone he'd develop a connection with; so when I made Luna, I decided to have them go together (but I just HAD to make it awkward for her for reasons you can figure out). Besides, it'd be better if Riku had a girlfriend of his own than...I'm not gonna say anything further. Anyways, enjoy!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts, except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 16 – Destiny Islands; Meeting Riku

As she flew across the Lanes, Luna suddenly sensed something very warm and bright from a long distance. She then turned to her left, and she saw a bright light unlike anything she had ever seen; her curiosity getting the best of her, she flew towards the light with only one thing on her mind: what could possibly be calling to her. _It's so warm and lovely_, she thought, _I've never felt something like this before. _

When she was able to open her eyes, she looked around to find herself on a beach surrounded by water. Luna was in awe when she looked around to see palm trees and other plants by the sand, unable to comprehend the new environment. It reminded her of how much she wanted to see it when she was at home.

_Flashback:_

_Three-year-old Luna was slowly flipping through a picture book placed on her lap, looking at the images of things that she had never seen and wondering what it'd be like to travel through the different landscapes. But she stopped turning the pages when she found a large picture of a small piece of land surrounded by water, and was instantly awestruck by the exotic beauty of the picture; so much that she just set the book on the floor and gazed at it while letting her daydreams flow out of her head._

_At that moment, Aqua entered her room to find her staring at the book, and she sighed at the daydreaming child._

_"__What are you looking at this time, Luna?" she asked._

_Luna looked up at Aqua, and pointed at the picture she was looking at. "Hey, Aqua, what is this place?"_

_Aqua looked down at the picture and replied, "That's an island, Luna. It's a piece of land surrounded by a large body of water."_

_"__And what's on an island?" Luna asked._

_That was when her older brother, Terra, came in and answered, "Well, there's a lot of sand on the island's edges, and there's palm trees that grow different fruits."_

_Luna giggled as she was picked up by her brother and put on his lap, while Aqua took a seat on the floor with them._

_"__Why do you want to know about islands all of a sudden?" Aqua asked._

_"__I wanna see what an island's like, and see if it's a nice place," Luna replied as she grabbed the book, "And when I know it's a good place, I want you guys to be there, and Ven, too! We can enjoy it together."_

_Terra laughed at her wild idea. "Well, you'll have to wait a little while on that dream, I'm afraid. You're still very young, and Ventus is not able to leave home as far as I know. Maybe, if things go well for us, we can all visit an island together."_

_Luna sighed in disappointment. "I was hoping we could have an adventure…"_

_"__Hey, now, don't take it personally," Terra reassured her, "It's just that you need to be patient. When you're older, maybe we can find a way to help you see whatever you want to see. And better yet, you have the authority to decide where you want to go, Moonflower."_

_"__Who knows? Perhaps Ventus could come along as well if we ask permission," Aqua added, trying to provide a little optimism._

_Luna couldn't help but laugh happily with them as she soaked in that little bit of hope; there may be a chance to see the outside someday._

Luna brought up a small smile on her face as she thought about that fantasy she once had; she had dreamed of seeing the outside world, and now here she is, standing on one of the worlds she wanted to see the most.

As she was strolling by, though, she stopped in her tracks when she saw an islet with a tree bearing star-shaped fruit. _Is that the fruit Aqua talked about back home?_ She wondered. As she slowly walked a little closer to see what the fruits looked like, she felt a splash of water on her boots and her legs. Instantly, she yelped in shock and jumped back onto the sand, unable to figure out what just happened. A young boy's chuckle could be heard right behind her.

"Why did you jump like that? Is this your first time on an island?"

Luna laughed nervously as she turned to see who it is. "Yeah, I guess…" She turned around to see a young boy standing by the shore, and her speech faltered fast. "…it…is…"

At that point, Luna practically lost her voice as her hazel-green eyes met the aquamarine of the boy's eyes. The young boy's hair was a silvery blue, almost like the pale moonlight she loved so much; he wore a yellow sleeveless top and black shorts, with white and blue shoes and two blue wristbands.

The young boy brought up a half-smile and raised his brow in confusion. "What's the matter? Have you ever seen kids around your age before?"

She shook her head 'no'. "No, I…I've never met somebody like, um…like…you." She fidgeted her fingers as she tried to think of something else to say. "So, um…w-where am I anyway? Can you tell me?"

The boy smiled fully at her. "That's simple: you're on an island."

"So…if I'm on an island, then what's all that water?" Luna asked as she pointed out across the shore.

"That's the ocean." The boy replied. "It's water that surrounds the island."

Then, Luna shifted her attention to the sand. "And what's this under my feet?"

The boy chuckled at her silly questions. "That's sand. Have you ever walked on sand before?"

Her face turned pink as she looked down. "No."

For a few minutes, Luna asked a lot of questions regarding the island – from what the palm trees are to the seashells to the landscape to what can be found on the island – and the boy answered all of her questions with honest, straightforward answers. As she was asking all of this, she didn't notice that the boy hadn't averted his eyes from her.

It wasn't until she ran out of questions that she realized how intently the boy was gazing at her, almost as if he was admiring her. She blushed, and looked away shyly. But the boy reached out to her, and turned her face back as if he wanted to keep looking at her.

"I've never met someone who has so much curiosity before," he said to her, "Is it your way of telling me that you're not from around here?"

Luna blushed even more at this. "Yeah…I guess so. Why, did somebody come here who wasn't from this world?"

The boy was silent for a moment before he replied, "Yeah. A young man came here earlier. I can't tell you what went on, but I can tell you that the guy told me about you." Luna stared at him with wide eyes, but he continued. "He said that he has a sister who would've loved to come here, and play with kids her age. It's almost as if he wants her to be happy." He paused. "Are you that sister?"

Luna nodded. "Uh-huh." That was when she realized that she never told him her name. "That reminds me: I'm Luna. What's your name?"

The boy smiled. "I'm Riku."

"Riku…" Luna repeated softly, and then gave a small smile to him. "I like it."

_"__That's all you gotta say? 'I like it'?"_ Medea asked in exasperation, _"C'mon, Luna, you could say a little more than that when you're talking to a kid you're meeting the first time!"_

Luna winced at this and replied in her head, 'I've never been around kids like him before, so I didn't know what to say in return.'

Riku noticed this, and showed concern to her. "What is it, Luna?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. I got distracted a bit."

"Hey! Riku, where are you?"

When the two of them heard another voice call out from a distance, they turned around to see another little boy running by, searching high and low. From what Luna could see, the other boy had brown hair with blue eyes, and wore a white short-sleeved shirt with red shorts and sandals. Then, the boy turned his head over to their direction, and instantly ran over to them the moment he recognized his friend.

"Where'd you run off to, Riku? I looked everywhere for you!" the boy fumed.

"I met someone." Riku replied, "She was curious about the island."

The brown-haired boy looked toward Luna, who simply clasped her hands together shyly, and studied her all over.

"So, who is this?" he asked.

"This is Luna. I just met her," Riku replied. "Luna, this is my friend, Sora."

"Nice to meet you," Luna replied sheepishly.

Sora grinned at her as he put his hands behind his head. "Nice to know you, too, Luna. Hey, you wanna play with us? It'd be more fun."

Luna wasn't sure what to do. "Play what?"

"Y'know, play, do something fun together!" Sora replied jovially, "Oh, I know! Let's have a race. The last one to reach the islet has to get the paopu fruit!"

To her surprise, Sora already ran ahead excitedly, which forced Riku to coax her into following him. She ran as fast as she could while trailing behind Riku, unable to believe how fast the boys are in comparison to her; it was almost as if they've had more chances to develop running skills than she did back home. But ultimately, Riku won the race with Sora in second place and Luna finished last.

"Darn it, I lost again," Sora groaned in disappointment.

"But I was last," Luna reminded him.

"That's true. You have to fulfill your part of the deal," Riku replied. "You think you can reach the paopu fruit?"

Luna looked up at the paopu fruit tree, and contemplated what to do to reach the fruit since she can't do it herself. Then, she came to the conclusion that she should try using her Shadow Hand; although her conscience got skeptic and opposed to using her powers in front of the boys, she ignored it and chose to take the chance. Carefully, she conjured a Shadow Hand to stretch out and retrieve the fruit with little effort. As she did, though, the boys jumped in shock at the sight of the thing she summoned. Luna didn't notice their shock until she had received the fruit, and turned to speak with them.

"Wow! How did you do that?" Sora exclaimed.

"Is that some kind of magic, Luna?" Riku asked.

Luna blinked in confusion. "No, it's not magic. It's…" She hesitated a bit. "It's a little hard to explain, really."

While she did see that Sora wasn't really able to understand what she meant, Riku showed a look that said 'I know what you're trying to tell me'; it became more evident when he gently took the paopu fruit from the shadowy hand and held it high enough for Luna to see. When she looked up at him, she could see a friendly smile on his face.

"I could get used to this," he said.

Before Luna could ask what he was talking about, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, making her look up toward the sky in fear. _Something's not right_, she thought anxiously.

'Are you getting that feeling, Medea?' Luna mentally asked.

_"__Yeah…I'm sensing it, too,"_ Medea replied in her head, _"You'd better get back home, and pronto! Something tells me that your pals are gonna be in huge danger."_

Even so, she felt very conflicted about it; she knew that she had to investigate the vibe she was getting, but she didn't like the idea of leaving her new friends so soon. But her concern for her own friends and family overruled her desires for ignorance, and made her start running toward the beach down below. Unbeknownst to her, though, Riku chased after her until it was just the two of them at the shore.

"Luna, are you leaving?" he asked with a hint of worry.

She turned to face him, and replied sadly, "Sorry, Riku, but I have to find my friends…and my brother. I'm scared for them. I don't know why, but I think they're in trouble. I have to find them, and help them. I know it sounds dumb, but it's something I gotta do, and I don't want to see anybody hurt."

When she looked up at Riku, she could see that he's concerned for her; it didn't help that he reached out to her and held her hand as if he doesn't want to let her go.

"Luna…will I see you again?" he couldn't help but ask.

When she heard that desperation in his question, Luna had a lot of trouble figuring out how to answer him. She didn't know how many times she can use the Teleport Brace, and she doesn't have an idea what she'll do once she finds the cause of her worry; how could she reply to that?

"I…I don't know," Luna replied hesitantly.

She tried to lower her head to hide her guilt at not giving a clear answer, but she felt Riku's hand cup her chin and lift it up to look at her face-to-face. She saw a gentle smile form on his face as he moved his hands to her shoulders.

"Then, let's make a promise before you go," he suggested, "If for any reason – whether it's from sadness, pain, or loneliness – you feel like you've lost your way, just call my name, and I'll find a way to reach you."

Moved by the promise, Luna nodded with a small smile and replied, "Alright. It's a promise, then."

Carefully, she released herself from Riku's gentle hands, turned around, and slowly walked away from him until she was a good distance away. Then, at the right moment, the Teleport Brace activated and formed the barrier around her, ready to carry her away from the island. Before she flew away, she looked back toward Riku one more time, wanting to keep his image in her mind; in an instant, she soared away from the island with only one thing in mind: hurry back home and find out what's going on.


	18. Chapter 18 - Ch 17: First Misfortune

**And this is where crap hits the fan. As much as I didn't want to do any harm to my OC, this is Birth by Sleep, the tragedy game; so, there was no going back. But I'm sure you guys can sympathize with Luna nonetheless; besides, it's tough for a child to go through this. I hope you enjoy this chapter without having to exhaust a tissue box.**

**I own nothing in Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.**

**Read, review, and no flames.**

Chapter 17 – The First Misfortune

So many thoughts overflowed in Luna's mind as she raced back to the Land of Departure; she feared that someone's life will be threatened, or worse, that something foul is at work. Either way, she was very worried about Ventus and her brother, Terra.

After all, she did disobey Ventus and left the tower when he had told her to stay put; but then, if she didn't leave, she wouldn't have found the island and met the boys. She had no idea what he was going to think if he heard she didn't follow his orders, nor she did have the foggiest what her brother would think, for that matter.

_"__You do realize that someone other than Ven's gonna question where you've been?"_ Medea asked in her head, _"And you know who I'm talking about, don't ya?"_

'I know, Medea. But I can't shake off the feeling that someone's gonna get hurt,' Luna replied in her mind.

Soon, she could see that she was closing in on the Land of Departure, her adoptive home. As she got closer, she could still see the pristine white castle standing proud, and the greens that grew around the place at will; as much as she wanted to feel relieved to be home, fear and anxiety overpowered any positive feelings that tried to emerge. But when she got closer, she could see Ventus was already there; however, something was rather off about him: it was almost as if he didn't detect that she was coming, considering that he has his head down and lost in his thoughts. However, she did notice that Eraqus is there, too, and she could've sworn that she heard him ask where she is as if he were worried for her.

As she was getting closer to the ground, she saw Eraqus looking up in confusion before realizing that she's heading their way. Luna managed to plant her feet to the ground just as the crimson barrier disappeared, and was greeted by the master's relieved eyes and a small smile.

"Luna, I'm glad that you're safe as well," he said calmly, "I feared the worst when you somehow took off, and without the right tools at that."

"I'm sorry if I worried you," Luna replied as she nervously put her hands behind her back, "But I'm okay, Grandpa."

She watched as Eraqus breathed a sigh of relief and put his hands on both hers and Ventus's shoulders, like he doesn't want to let them go again.

"What matters right now is that you and Ventus are home," he said, "You both don't belong outside this world yet. You need to stay here where you can learn…"

"…In your prison?"

Luna looked up at Ventus, dumbfounded at what he said, while Eraqus simply showed shock on his face. But Ventus was not backing down on his words as he pressed the matter.

"That's your excuse…for keeping me imprisoned here, isn't it?" Ventus asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

Luna moved over to the side a bit, afraid that if she tried to stop Ventus, he might prevent her from approaching him. On the master's part, he backed away, stunned at his anger.

"What did you hear?" Eraqus asked.

"That I'm supposed to be some weapon…some kind of 'X-blade'!" Ventus answered, not cooling down.

At that point, Luna was utterly confused about this; she couldn't help but silently question what happened to Ventus to make him feel angry, much less why he heard he was to be some kind of weapon. She didn't remember being told of such a thing when she lived with them. She always saw her friend as a person, not a tool or anything that cruel.

"I knew it. Xehanort…he just couldn't let that go," Master Eraqus murmured.

"And that's not all: he was looking for someone; someone that he supposedly knows. A woman, I heard," Ventus continued, "Master Xehanort thinks that through Luna, he can find that woman called Noir. Who is this 'Noir', and what does Luna have to do with us? Is there something about my friend that you haven't told me, Master?!"

From the side, Luna could see even more horror coming from Eraqus as he stepped back a little more and held his hand to his head.

"I don't believe it…his mind was still on…her…as well," he murmured, "It was one thing for him to be obsessed with the X-blade, but to think that even she was part of his obsession. I had hoped that I would be able to reason with him, tell him that his seeking of knowledge and his fascination for the darkness was too dangerous. I even tried to convince him to not bring her into it as well, but he wouldn't listen to me. I failed." He looked up at Ventus. "I had the chance to stop him, and couldn't do it. But I will not fail again."

Without warning, Master Eraqus summoned his Keyblade, as if he were about to prepare to strike. Luna and Ventus were horrified at what they were seeing, backing away a bit in pure fear.

"Master, what are you…"

"Grandpa, what are you doing?!" Luna cried out.

"The X-blade has no place in this or any world," Eraqus replied, "Xehanort has made his purpose clear…and I am left with no choice. Forgive me…but, for Luna's sake, you must exist no more."

What he did next frightened the both of them deeply: Eraqus used his Keyblade to charge up a ball of light energy, and then unleashed it all in chains of light aiming to inflict harm on Ventus. Luna was about to try and intervene, but she saw her older brother rush over – in his armor – and use one swing of his Keyblade to shatter the spell into many pieces, leaving Ventus unharmed. Although she was relieved that her brother had come, her inner fears only escalated as she witnessed the tension begin to grow.

"Master, have you gone mad?" Terra demanded, outraged.

"I command you – step aside!" Eraqus ordered, stunned at Terra's intervention.

"No!"

"You will not heed you Master?"

"I won't!"

Luna looked over to see her brother's master look down a moment, as if he was unable to believe what that Terra would not simply obey his Master that easily. She could've sworn that she saw indications of some kind of heartbreak coming from him.

"Why do all my attempts to reach you fail?" he asked, "If you don't have it in your heart to obey, then you will have to share Ventus's fate."

For a second, Luna could've sworn that she saw a single tear stream down his scarred cheek; but then she saw Eraqus charge towards Terra, determined to finish what he had started. The most her brother could do was guard against his master's ferocious attacks, leaving both her and Ventus helpless at the moment.

"Enough, Terra!" Ventus pleaded in grief, "He's right…"

"Quiet!" Terra interrupted.

Both student and master clashed blades for moments longer, until Eraqus jumped back a short distance; then, Luna could see him use his Keyblade to charge up another round of light energy, and then shot it at the boys in an attempt to knock them down. That was when Luna couldn't take it anymore: she had to do something, or else her friend and her brother will get hurt.

"Stop him, Medea!" she yelled. "Save Ven and my brother!"

Instantly, her Shadow Guardian emerged from her shadow and swiped against the blast of light, breaking it apart. However, it still did make Terra and Ventus fall over backwards by the force released by the shattered spell. At the same time, Eraqus gasped in shock when he saw Medea hovering in front, her Black Claws ready to fight back; he turned his head toward Luna in disbelief at what he had seen.

"Luna…what did you summon just now?" he exclaimed, unable to believe what he saw, "Where did it come from?"

She hesitated fearfully as she struggled to explain. "It's just…I didn't mean…It wasn't my fault…"

But it didn't long for the master to suspect how she gained her Guardian, considering how she was having trouble confessing what had happened to her to be able to do what she normally couldn't.

"I see…someone forced you to awaken your hidden powers. That's why you won't tell me how you summoned this creature." Eraqus paused a moment, before steadying his Keyblade. "I made a promise to keep you safe, to keep you hidden from desiring eyes. Please, forgive me, Luna…I didn't want to do it, but I'll have to bind you into slumber until your safety is assured. As for that creature, it must return to your shadow while you sleep."

Luna backed away in horror as Medea returned to her master's position, ready to defend her. But before Luna could make any protest, she sensed a strong aura nearby, and turned to see her older brother holding Ventus, an aura of darkness surrounding him. She wasn't the only one who noticed this, though; Eraqus detected this as well and turned to face him as well.

"You may be my Master, but I will not…let you hold back my sister, or hurt my friend!" Terra declared angrily.

"Has the darkness taken you, Terra?" Eraqus demanded as he readied his Keyblade to attack.

But Terra didn't answer the question when he used his Keyblade to create a portal behind him, and threw Ventus into it. The last thing Luna saw was the poor boy trying to reach his hand out to Terra, but to no avail when he disappeared to parts unknown.

She then turned back to her brother, and saw him move his eyes towards her Guardian.

"Medea, move my sister to safety," Terra ordered.

Medea nodded. "You got it, kid." Luna felt Medea grab hold around her body and sprout her wings. "Hold on tight, Luna."

The next thing she knew was that Medea had taken them a little distance across the yard, far enough out of harm's way. Luna watched helplessly as her brother clashed against his master, two different auras countering blow for blow; as far as she could see, it was a no-holds barred duel to the finish, and it was just too devastating to bear. Eraqus would unleash powerful strikes and deadly spells in an attempt to get the upper hand, while Terra would fight back with crushing blows and strong attacks of his own.

However, after a long clash, Terra suddenly stopped when he saw that his master was badly beaten and about ready to collapse at any moment. Luna could tell that he was horrified at what he was seeing, and she, too, was feeling her heart breaking at the suffering her parental figure was going through.

"What have I done…Master…?" Terra gasped in horror. "I just…wanted to keep Ven and Luna safe."

Eraqus shook his head as he struggled for breath, and clutched his chest tightly. "No…you were right. I failed you, Terra. Perhaps I've no one to blame but myself for the darkness inside you." He paused a moment. "And now, I've done worse…raised my Keyblade against you and Ventus."

When Luna and Medea have landed back onto the ground, the grief-stricken child ran over to them and fell to her knees in tears.

"Grandpa, why?" she asked with tears running down her face, "I don't get it. What were you trying to keep me safe from? What does my mama have to do with everything? Why did you try to hurt people I love?"

"I promised…I promised your mother I'd keep you safe," he replied weakly, "She…went into hiding. Where, I do not know. I tried to safeguard you…which was why I had you learn…to use your powers less. But in the process, I've blinded myself…to the fact that someone would uncover the truth." He gasped a bit, trying to breathe as he staggered. "I was a fool. I failed her…"

All of a sudden, Luna and Terra heard a piercing sound, and Eraqus gasp in great pain. Brother and sister gasped in pure terror as he began to collapse, and hurried to try and help him; but it was no use because he disappeared into shimmering fragments of light. Terra was on his knees, releasing tears of pain as he lamented the loss of his master. On Luna's part, she was seated on her legs as she started to cry out like a lost child would.

"Master Eraqus!"

"Grandpa…no…!"

Everything was completely silent for a moment, until Medea heard footsteps and looked to see Xehanort come close. Luna heard as well, and when she looked up, she backed away in fear and loathing.

"What a sight. Why do you trouble yourself with remorse, Master Terra?" the old man said. "The man was bent on doing harm to your friend, his own pupil!"

Terra looked up at the old man in shock. "Master Xehanort! Why?"

"You know, at times I find your progress quite striking," Master Xehanort said as he turned and walked away, "But you still fall short." He stopped in his tracks. "Let all that anger out, my boy. Give your heart over to the darkness!"

"What do you mean?" Terra demanded as he summoned his Keyblade.

"What the hell are you blabbering about?!" Medea shouted furiously.

"Still so blind...Then I will make you see." Xehanort turned around to face them. "Come to the place where all Keyblade wielders leave their mark on fate – the Keyblade Graveyard! There, you will watch your dear Ventus and Aqua meet their ends, and the last light within you will die!" He raised his Keyblade, and shot out a beam of darkness that rapidly created a dark sphere hovering over the castle. "As for your sister, she is the key to beckoning _her_ out of the shadows after hiding for so long."

As the dark sphere hovered above them, sinister winds began to blow all around them as darkness covered the land. Luna clung fearfully to her brother's leg, while Terra and Medea looked on at the gloating old man as the winds whipped around them.

"You won't need a home anymore where you're going!" the old man said as he took his leave.

"Get back here, you murderer!" Medea yelled when she tried to charge at him to no avail, since the old man had already left.

Luna looked all around her as she saw parts of the castle break apart, and slowly floating towards the dark sphere hovering above them. She couldn't believe that her adopted home would be ruined by a person so evil, and it had to be someone that she didn't like form the very start. But it hurt her most because it was the only home she ever knew before a twist of fate allowed her to escape the boundaries that had been put on her.

Unable to hold it all back, she clung to her brother tightly and began crying loudly in despair. Seeing her like this, Terra picked her up, and held her close to him as he pulled out his Wayfinder with a heavy heart.

"Ven, Aqua…I won't let him hurt you," he murmured.

Medea returned to the siblings in frustration, softening a little when she saw the state of her young master. She looked up towards Terra, as if to find out what the next plan of action is for him.

"So, what're ya gonna do, Terra?" Medea asked. "What now?"

Terra turned to the Shadow Guardian. "He said to go to the Keyblade Graveyard. That's where I'm heading."

"Where you're going, we're goin', too, I'm lettin' ya know," Medea added, "You can't risk leaving her on some other world. Odds are the old man or that Vanitas guy will bring her there anyways, no matter what you'd try to do to keep your sister out of danger."

He nodded in agreement. "You're right. Let's go."

As Terra donned his armor, Luna's Teleport Brace formed a protective shield all around her body and Medea sprouted her shadowy wings. Then, they flew away from the crumbling world to a portal leading into the Lanes Between. As they followed the path to their intended destination, Luna continued to weep in her brother's protective arms, lost in the throes of her grief.


	19. Chapter 19 - Ch 18: Keyblade Graveyard

**Here at last: the Keyblade Graveyard, the battlefield of misery that made many a KH fan cry over the fate of one of their beloved characters. Now, just to let you let you guys know, the reason I had Ventus's name in quotation marks is because doing the Ventus-Vanitas sounds redundant and Venitas sounds really stupid to me. Just saying.**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Chapter 18 – The Keyblade Graveyard

When they touched down on the barren world, Luna peeked her head out just enough to realize she's back in that place she had first encountered Vanitas. It scared her to think that they came here, even after that nightmare that happened back at their old home world. But she kept clinging to her brother as they trekked toward the canyons that led down to an empty path.

She watched her brother summon his Keyblade, and held it out somberly, saying, "What I do, I do for friendship."

Luna started to weep all over again, but could feel her brother's hand patting her back gently as she was carried along with Medea following next to them.

"I'm so sorry, Luna. I'm sorry you had to see Master die," her brother whispered sadly.

Luna sniffled a bit. "What're we gonna do, Big Brother? What do we do now? I don't wanna lose you, too, Big Brother."

For once, her brother was at a loss. "I don't know, Luna. I don't know."

"One thing's pretty damn sure: I'm getting absolutely sick of that old man's cruelty against us all," Medea said angrily, "As soon as I see that creep and his pet, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind."

As the three continued on down the path, many thoughts ran through Luna's head. She thought about how she first woke up in the Land of Departure, and how she lived her two years with her brother and dear friends that she had called her family. She thought about that last night she spent with her loved ones, holding onto the friendship they treasured so much. She thought about the different worlds she got to see, the many people she met – friend and foe – and the many adventures she experienced. She thought about how she first met Medea, her Guardian, through a tense moment against Vanitas.

Then, unexpectedly, Luna thought about Riku…His face came up in her mind, reminding her of how fascinated he was with her. She couldn't help but remember that promise she made to him when she left the island, despite wanting to remain with him. She felt like she found someone she wanted to be with even though it was only a small friendship, and it gave her a small amount of comfort.

Luna snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a wide area filled with all manners of Keyblades all around them. As she was gently set down to the ground, she couldn't help but look around her, sensing that they've reached the point of no return; Luna could see her brother was well aware of it, and Medea was completely stiff as she searched all around her.

Suddenly, Medea's violet eyes glanced by one corner, and she said emotionlessly, "Aqua's here. And it seems that she's troubled."

Luna and Terra turned to see Aqua coming towards them, but it can be seen that something was wrong with her. She carried a troubled, confused demeanor on her face, implying that she experienced something that had affected her mind. Nobody said a word, even when the four of them have joined back together, until Aqua finally decided to speak.

"I was told…the Master was struck down," she told them.

Terra gasped lightly, while Luna's tears began to build up again and Medea turned her head away with an angry frown.

"Yes…that's right," Terra replied. "I was stupid, and helped Xehanort do it. The Master – he tried to hurt Ven, and had planned to send Luna into slumber since her secret was exposed. I only fought because I wanted to protect them." Aqua cast her head down sadly. "But I was tricked. Xehanort set the whole thing up – all so he could awaken the darkness inside me." Terra turned his head to Aqua, equally saddened. "You were right, Aqua – and so was the Master. I did need to be watched. I went astray – but no more."

Luna hugged her brother's leg and said to her blue-haired friend, "Big Brother didn't kill Grandpa. He may've been very mad at Grandpa for trying to hurt Ven and me, but he didn't kill him."

"Believe it, sister. That nasty old coot's to blame for this," Medea added with a growl in her voice.

Aqua didn't say anything as she struggled to understand what she was hearing. "What else is darkness but hate and rage? Xehanort is feeding the dark fires within you – making you fight. You'll go astray again." She looked up. "Tell me, how does that honor our Master's memory, Terra? How can we protect Luna when she's separated from us?"

Another set of footsteps were heard, and everyone turned around to see Ventus coming toward them. Just like with Aqua, he had a troubled look on his face. Luna looked at him worriedly, answered by a small pat on her head by her blond-haired friend. They waited for him to tell them what had transpired with him.

"Xehanort wants me and Vanitas to fight," Ventus told them, "and make some kind of 'X-blade'. But the Master said we can't let that happen, and he tried to destroy me for that."

Aqua was confused. "X-blade?"

"I still don't know exactly what it is." Ventus continued. "But…it scares me to death; even just the thought of it."

Terra put an arm on Ventus's shoulder reassuringly. "Relax, Ven. We're here, and we're gonna take care of you."

"You're not alone, Ven. We can help," Luna added as she clasped his jacket tightly, not wanting to let him go.

But Ventus was not so sure. "I may have to fight Vanitas after all. If I do, guys…I want you to…"

"The four of us can never be torn apart, all right?" Terra interrupted. "I'll always find a way."

"Make that five. I may not have known ya for long," Medea added as she folded her arms, "but I think you're a good kid."

"Ven…" Luna pleaded sadly.

Despite the comfort the foursome tried to give to him, Luna saw that he had a very serious face on him as he gently pushed each of their hands away from him.

"I'm asking you, as a friend…just…put an end to me," he said somberly.

Luna backed away from him a bit, and lowered her head sadly at the thought that her friend would ask them to kill him. But then, she felt a chill run down her spine, and looked over to find out what it is.

Medea felt the same way as she glanced ahead, and hissed, "He's here."

Everyone turned to see Xehanort slowly coming towards them from the midst of the sandy gusts, followed by Vanitas. Luna's fears began to escalate as she saw them coming, causing her to back up towards her Guardian for protection; on Medea's part, she was absolutely ready to tear the old man apart as her hands slowly changed into her Black Claws.

But then, Xehanort stopped a good distance from them, and waved his hand out towards the unused Keyblades. "Behold…these lifeless keys used to be full of power – united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat as a great Keyblade War raged. Countless Keyblade wielders gave up their lives, all in search of one, ultimate key. And it will soon belong to me…" He pointed his gloved finger straight toward Ventus. "…X-blade."

Knowing that it was time to settle the score once and for all, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua touched their shoulder pads and donned their armor; Luna summoned her Shadow Hands around her, while Medea elongated her Black Claws to deadly levels.

Before anyone could make a move, Terra charged ahead of them first in an attempt to make a strike against Xehanort. But the old man waved his hand, and made a part of the ground rise up to slam against Terra, making him lose his balance and stumble; then, another part of the ground rose higher with Xehanort and Vanitas standing on top of it. Then, the old man waved his hand, and made the keys come out of the ground to form a serpentine cluster.

Aqua made a move to run away from the oncoming cluster, and tried to warn Ventus of the attack; but Ventus was caught off-guard and was smacked aside by the countless blades. Vanitas jumped onto the cluster and began to ride the blades as the numerous Keyblades made Terra lose his balance and stumble to the ground again, almost about to fall over the ledge. Then, all of a sudden, more Keyblades launched themselves on Aqua and made her slam into the ground.

Ventus ran over to his friend to make sure she's alright.

Aqua struggled to get back on her feet, and shot out a spell towards a falling Terra, creating a barrier around him and protecting him from the Keyblades until it exploded.

Luna did her best to repel the flying Keyblades away from her friends with her Shadow Hands, but she, too, was swatted away like a bug and fell to the ground with a thud. She cringed in pain as she struggled to pull herself back up, her dress bearing scrapes and dirt all over and bruises on her body.

Medea relentlessly tried to pursue Vanitas and clawed at him, but he blocked against her attacks until he managed to knock her to the ground, making a dent in the rocks. The Guardian spat out a bit of saliva as she heaved herself back up and hurried over to tend to her fragile master.

"You hang in there now, you hear me, Luna?" she said while catching her breath.

"Medea…must help…" Luna said weakly.

Ventus rushed ahead to try and help Terra against Xehanort, and tried to land an attack on him; but the old man vanished and reappeared behind him, grabbing his helmet tightly as Ventus flailed around helplessly.

Terra gasped in horror when he saw this. "Ven!" He rushed over to help Ventus, but the Keyblade cluster caught him by surprise and sent him plummeting downwards into the ground – hard.

Aqua looked up, and – to her horror – saw Ventus being held at the head by Xehanort. The sly old man used some kind of power to freeze Ventus, and then carelessly sent him falling over the edge. Fortunately, Aqua acted fast and managed to catch Ventus before he could make a nasty landing against the ground. She pulled herself up to make sure that he's alright.

"Ven, are you okay?" she asked.

No response came from him as he remained frozen.

At the same time, Medea arrived with a battered Luna in her arms to see a frozen Ventus on the ground.

"What the hell happened to him?" she demanded to know.

Before any answer could be given, Xehanort charged up an energy ball and shot it out towards the sky. When it hit the sky, the clouds slowly parted away, and a bright blue light emerged from the darkness to reveal a gigantic, sky blue-colored heart hovering above them, radiantly shining down upon the dusty battlefield. Everyone looked up from below with wide eyes at the spectacular sight.

Luna managed to look up and ask, "What is that?"

"How the hell should I know?" Medea replied.

Just then, Luna and Medea heard footsteps coming over to them, and looked over to find that they're not alone. A man quite familiar to them showed up, but this time, there was something a bit different about him: he came with a patch over where his right eye would've been, and he had a scar on his face; to add to the change, he possesses a yellow eye color rather than his normal color.

"How 'bout you leave the popsicle with me, so you can have your little fight with Terra," the man said, "You can't be too happy about him deep-sixing your Master."

Aqua looked up, and glared at the man. "Who are you?" she demanded.

The man with the eye patch chuckled sinisterly. "You think you guys have got some grand role to play. As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off, Terra will succumb to the darkness. So…who wants to go first?"

"Shut up!" Ventus shouted as he struggled to regain his ability to move.

"Oh, so this kiddo thinks he's a full-fledged Keyblade wielder?" the man said mockingly, "He's got the angry look down."

In that instant, Luna was able to process all that she heard and saw, and immediately pointed her finger right at the man in recognition.

"Aqua, that's the bad man that kidnapped me!" Luna cried out, "That's the guy who messed with Big Brother and nearly sent me falling!"

Upon hearing this, Aqua's anger grew at the taunting man. "So, you're the man who threatened Luna's life…"

The man instantly realized that he had been caught red-handed, and backed away while faking nervousness. "Oops. The little angel rat me out. Guess I should've done something more threatening to her once I had her in my clutches, but whatever."

"Go ahead if you want to waste your time," Aqua spat at him, "Keep trying to drive us apart with your mind games. It'll never work!"

Aqua gently set down Ventus next to Luna, and got up to face off against the villain responsible for the trouble her friends had gotten into.

"Terra will prove that he's stronger!" she exclaimed as she summoned her Keyblade.

Medea stepped forward beside Aqua, with her claws ready. "And she ain't the only one who's gonna punish you. I'm gonna make you wish YOU had asked for the watery grave at the garden!"

Leaving Luna to look after Ventus, Aqua and Medea charged toward the man as he pulled out his guns. The two women pulled out all the stops against the guy as he kept shooting at them and using his warping skills to fire at them from various ranges. Thankfully, Medea had an idea on how the man worked, so the Guardian was able to point out where he might attempt to strike next; this allowed Aqua to do whatever she needed to do in order to force him into the ground. The fight finished quickly when he retreated a little ways to catch a breath.

"I keep forgetting – don't mess with Keyblade wielders and witches," the man said smugly, "But you know what? That means I made the right choice! Well…he wanted me to buy time, and I'd say he got it."

Aqua and Medea looked at each other with confused faces, until Aqua had a sudden gasp of shock when she turned to the still struggling Ventus.

"Ven!" she cried.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Medea hissed angrily.

Luna looked over to the two women as they hurried to their side, but then glanced up to see Vanitas coming towards them from above. She wasn't the only one, though; Ventus saw him as well, and began to panic.

"Aqua! Medea!" he shouted.

"Look out!" Luna yelled.

The two women looked up to see Vanitas plummeting down towards them with his Void Gear in hand. Medea immediately jumped out the way of the attack; but Aqua was not so lucky. The blue-haired warrior fell to unconsciousness. Then, Vanitas stood near her and raised his Keyblade, about to deliver a fatal blow to her. Just the sight of their friend about to be killed sparked Ventus's desperation to stop Vanitas, allowing him to finally break free of his frozen state and take a stand against the masked boy once and for all. And he isn't alone; Luna and Medea also joined his side, ready to settle the score.

"You are **_not_**…going to hurt…any more of my friends!" Ventus growled in rage. "You've messed with Terra and Aqua! You've harassed Luna! **You**! **Are**! **Finished**!"

"I've had enough of you!" Luna cried out as she summoned her Shadow Hands.

"Ya ready for round three, brat?" Medea asked sarcastically.

"Hmph," was all Vanitas let out.

Initially, the battle against Vanitas was tough because a small cluster of Keyblades showed up and he rode on them, all the while harassing them with ranged attacks. But since Medea was a very mobile ally, she was able to pounce on him and force to get back down to the ground and let Ventus and Luna handle the rest. Ventus fought back against him with swift strikes, and made sure that his small friend was protected from any potential sneak attacks. Luna used her Shadow Hands to violently juggle Vanitas into the air, occasionally using Shadow Stealth to make quick escapes from potentially dangerous blows and counterattacking with any means at her disposal. After a grueling fight, it seemed that they had beaten him; but something wasn't right: a dark aura surrounded him as he got back on his feet.

"You've done it, Ventus," he said coolly.

His mask dissolved to reveal the face of a boy with black, spiky hair and yellow eyes. "Now that my body is about to perish, you and I will have to join together."

Luna, Ventus, and Medea were stunned at his words; but he wasn't done yet.

"The X-blade will be forged!"

All of a sudden, the dark aura spread around, and three Floods emerged to hold Ventus in place; Luna tried to pull the monsters off her friend to no avail. Not even Medea was able to force them off him.

"What the hell is this?!" Medea cried out in frustration.

"Those monsters…!" Luna exclaimed.

"The Unversed…come from you?" Ventus asked with a confounded tone.

Vanitas gave off a smug smile as he explained, "It happened when you and I were split into two. The negativity took shape as these monsters. They are what I feel – a horde of fledgling emotions under my control. I released them in all the worlds I could, hoping to lure you away from home and isolate you from your Master. Providing Luna the means to follow you was a little extra I decided to throw in myself, just to see how you'd handle a child wandering off without an adult watching her. We needed to make you stronger. The Unversed were the perfect opponents. And better yet, no matter how many times you defeat them, their negativity flows right back into me." He stopped as he was very close to the trapped blonde. "You never stood a chance against us, Ventus."

Outraged at what she was hearing, Medea attempted to rush at him. "Don't you DARE try to do more harm on him!"

But Vanitas, with a swift swipe at her, used a dark energy to send Medea flying into the rocks so hard that she left a dent somewhere.

"No!"

Luna summoned a Shadow Hand to try and pull him away from Ventus, but he blocked it like it was nothing, and summoned two Floods to capture her. She struggled to get away, but she was held too tightly with no way to set herself free.

"Ah-ah, don't get naughty on me, Luna," he said while wagging a finger at her, "Since you were lucky to have come this far, I'm giving you a front row view of your friends' downfall at my hand…once the X-blade has been forged, that is."

All of sudden, he snapped his fingers, and the two Floods that had captured her changed into a transparent, crystal-like ball that floated a little ways above the ground…and she was trapped inside it! Terrified, Luna pounded against the crystal frantically, crying out as she saw a bright flash surround Ventus, quickly blinding her until it vanished. When her vision cleared, she saw him standing upright, but something wasn't quite right: rather than having his Wayward Wind, he held an unusual blade that looked like it had two keys joined together with a long sword in the middle. _What is that thing?_ She thought nervously.

She couldn't answer her own questions when she saw Aqua, Mickey, and Medea coming towards Ventus. Aqua seemed to be relieved that her friend was there, but she could see that her Shadow Guardian was feeling very uneasy.

"Ven, thank goodness!" her blue-haired friend sighed in relief, "Where's Luna? Isn't she with you?" She tilted her head a bit to try and make eye contact. "Ven?"

Panic rushing into her system, Luna pounded against the crystal and screamed out, "Mickey, get Aqua away from him! It's not him! **It's not Ven**!"

Mickey heard her cries, and looked past the still Ventus to see the peculiar Keyblade in his hands; he jumped in realization once he figured out that something was horribly wrong.

Then, 'Ventus' lifted his head up, and lunge the X-blade at Aqua; Mickey reacted quickly and blocked the oncoming attack with his own Keyblade. Medea took advantage of this, and grabbed the both of them out of harm's way. When the three managed to reach a distance, Aqua looked above to see Luna inside the hovering crystal ball and gasped in shock at the child's helpless condition. Even Medea took notice of this, and was angrier than ever.

"What the hell happened here?" Medea demanded to know.

"Luna's right: that's not Ven!" Mickey pointed out as he readied his Keyblade.

Then, everyone watched as Ventus's armor changed into Vanitas's dark outfit, warning that the friend they knew had been possessed by their enemy.

"Correct. I am not Ventus," 'Ventus' said evilly, "His heart has become a part of mine now." He raised the X-blade upward. "This X-blade will open a door – one that leads to all worlds! Then, Keyblade bearing warriors will flock here from each and every one of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts! And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin!"

This was just enough to make Aqua furious. "Shut up! I'm sick of your nonsense! Release Luna and give Ven his heart back!"

Aqua and Mickey rushed against the possessed Ventus, who took on the powers and abilities of Vanitas in combat. Between using Holy Burst and defending against malicious sneak attacks, it could be seen that Aqua was quite angry at the fact that Luna is being held prisoner against her will; however, Mickey was equally upset at the child's ill treatment.

When Aqua clashed blades, she demanded angrily, "Luna has nothing to do with all this! Let her go now!"

"Why should I? She was already involved, and none of you gave a thought about it," 'Ventus' replied mockingly, "As much as I don't want to admit it, I have to say that her naiveté was very entertaining while she was out and about."

Mickey made his move and protested, "Luna is just an innocent child! She doesn't deserve to be tormented like this!"

"Still, it'd be better if I didn't get too attached to her," 'Ventus' continued, "or else I'd do something unthinkable."

However, while Aqua and Mickey were battling against the possessed Ventus, Medea managed to sneak around them and reach over to the crystal ball Luna was held in. On the Guardian's part, she has to do everything in her power to free her master from this cruel imprisonment; she kept bashing and hacking away against the crystal ball with her Black Claws in desperation.

"You hang in there, girl. I'll get ya out," Medea promised, trying to fight against the transparent substance.

"Get me outta here!" Luna cried.

But things were not going so well on the ground: when Aqua and Mickey charged in for another attack, 'Ventus' unleashed a swing powerful enough to send a strong gust against them, sending them flying back; subsequently, Aqua was sent crashing into a rock while Mickey went rolling back a little ways further. 'Ventus' smirked at them in triumph.

"What's wrong? Giving up already?"

But then, a shattering noise was heard from behind. 'Ventus', distracted by the sound of something breaking, turned around to find that Luna had been freed from her crystal prison, safe in the protective arms of Medea. He growled at this, angry that he didn't think about searching for the Guardian.

"You've got some nerve slipping past my sight, Guardian," he hissed.

"You just weren't paying attention is all," Medea retorted as she moved back.

Medea's distraction gave Aqua just enough time to get back on her feet and charge in for one more strike. When her cry was heard, 'Ventus' turned around and blocked the attack, leading to a power struggle. However, Aqua was able to push the attack until a breaking sound could be heard; the broken X-blade went flying into the air, and a massive surge of bright energy went berserk, sending many shots out and scattering all around. Luna, while in her Guardian's arms, saw the crazy state the X-blade was going, and couldn't understand what was happening.

"What's going on?" she asked fearfully.

"That thing's gone bonkers, that's for sure," Medea replied as she tried to cross the field safely.

Unfortunately for everyone, a very powerful gust rushed all around them and sent everyone flying away. The last thing Luna could see was the broken X-blade shatter into many pieces and disappear into a flash of light; what this meant, she didn't know. Her consciousness slipped away as everyone flew high into the sky…


	20. Chapter 20 - Ch 19: To Protect a Friend

**The nightmare is past, but we're not out of the woods yet. Just have a couple more chapters to go...wowzers. It's nice to know that our blue-haired chick wanted to keep Ventus safe while he sleeps, but I thought it'd be interesting if extra precautions were put up (but I gotta tell you, rhyming was a pain).**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Chapter 19 – To Protect a Sleeping Friend

When Luna came to, she found herself propped up to the wall of a room she was familiar with; she realized that she was back in the tower, which meant only one thing…

"So, the sleeping beauty finally wakes up."

She turned to find Medea seated on the floor next to her, eyeing her like she's been waiting for her wake up. Then, she turned her head, and looked over to see Yen Sid and Mickey, also relieved that she had woken up. But her mouse friend also had a twinge of worry for her as he looked at her sorry state.

"Are you alright, Luna? You look terrible," Mickey asked her in concern.

"I'm…I'm okay…" she replied weakly.

But Yen Sid was not convinced. "Given your conditions, you have been through more pain than a child could handle. You saw things that you shouldn't have, rendering your mind nearly to the point of breaking. Even now, I fear what will shatter you if you get more involved."

"What do you…?" Luna was about to ask, but was interrupted when she heard Aqua groan.

She turned and saw her friend sit up, waking from unconsciousness. She could tell that Aqua had no idea how they got there, until she saw Yen Sid, Mickey, Medea, and Luna nearby.

Yen Sid turned his attention to the blue-haired master. "Aqua, you and Luna lost consciousness. Fortunately, Mickey found you and Ventus drifting in the Lanes Between while Medea retrieved Luna, and brought you all back to me to receive proper care." He closed his eyes. "I am sorry, but there was no sign of Terra."

Luna was heartbroken at this. "What? But…Big Brother should be with us…"

"For once, I'm starting to wonder what the hell happened to him," Medea agreed as she folded her arms pensively.

Luna turned to face Aqua, but then she saw Ventus slumped against the wall, eyes closed. She thought that he might have fallen asleep, so she reached out to his arm and lightly shook him to try and wake him up.

"Ven…? Ven, are you okay?" Luna asked.

No response came out of him. Aqua tried to gently shake him awake, too. But he didn't respond to her, either.

"The boy's heart is sleeping." Yen Sid told them.

Aqua turned her head to the sorcerer. "When will he wake?"

The old sorcerer closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "I could not say. It is almost as if his heart has left. Should it return, he may very well wake. Should it not, then he may sleep like this for all eternity."

"No…" Luna whimpered a bit.

"I'll keep him safe – until he wakes," Aqua promised, "Forever if I have to."

"Okay, that's a bit extreme there, blue babe. You gotta think about Luna as well," Medea reminded her.

"I will tell you what your friend needs right now. It is not your protection," Yen Sid explained, "He needs you to believe. You see, Ventus's heart hangs in the balance. It sleeps in the place between light and darkness. From all I can perceive, that means he will be looking for a friend – one who believes in him, to show him the way home. Just as long as you love him, then Ventus will be able to find you when he wakes." He took a seat as he finished. "He can follow that love back to where he belongs – the realm of light."

Mickey turned and smiled at the worried girls. "Don't you worry, Aqua and Luna. I believe in Ven, too. Gosh, he's been as good a friend to me as anybody. And if both you girls and me believe in him with all our hearts, then he'll have three lights to follow instead of one."

Luna felt a small sense of hope rise in her heart. "Then, I'll believe in him, too."

Medea grinned a bit, and fully emerged from the shadow to join them. "I dunno what my heart's made up of, but I'm gonna put it all into hopin' he'll come back in one piece."

"Four lights," Aqua corrected. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "Terra."

Mickey's smile fell. "But…Terra's gone, maybe for good."

Aqua shook her head. "I think I know how to find him."

Once everyone has been able to regain their strength, it was agreed among the girls that they had to figure out where to keep Ventus safe until he can wake up. Aqua carried the sleeping Ventus on her back, while Luna and Medea followed closely behind her.

"Ven needs a safe place," Aqua told them.

"Makes me wonder where we're gonna put 'im," Medea questioned.

Then, unexpectedly, Ventus's arm lifted up and summoned his Keyblade. Then, the blade shot out a beam of light in front of them and created a light-filled portal before their eyes. Luna was stunned to see that her friend was able to do that despite his current conditions. Even Aqua was a little surprised, but then she nodded as if she understood what he had in mind.

"Alright…if that's where you want to go," she said.

Slowly, the three girls entered the portal and found themselves in the Land of Departure – or rather, what was left of it. Aqua was stunned to see what had happened to their home, seeing the darkness around the place. On the other hand, Luna's grief resurfaced as she looked upon the ruins of her adopted home where she had lost her grandpa at the hands of Xehanort; even Medea was not immune to the pain as she growled lowly at the wreckage.

Then, they spotted Eraqus's Keyblade on the ground, and walked over to inspect it. It saddened Aqua to know that he was truly gone, but it hurt Luna even more when she gazed at the noble blade.

"Grandpa…" Luna whimpered.

"Everything will be alright, Luna." Aqua reassured her softly. "Ventus led us here for a reason, I'm certain of it. Why else would we be led back here?" She picked up the fallen master's Keyblade from the ground. "We have to do what we must if we're to keep him safe."

Suddenly, Medea walked over, hoisted the sleeping Ventus off Aqua's shoulders and carried him securely in her arms bridal style. Luna looked up at her Guardian in confusion at her sudden action.

"Well, what're we waiting for? It's naptime for the kid, and we gotta think of a way to let him be undisturbed, if ya know what I'm saying," Medea said as she moved next to them.

With Aqua at the lead, everyone slowly walked inside the ruined castle and saw just how far the damage had been done with their eyes. Everything was dark, like a strong night had covered the inside of the once beautiful place; stones have fallen to the floor, and the stain-glass windows had been broken beyond repair. It made Luna feel sick to her stomach just seeing how lonely the place is without Master Eraqus and her brother beside her, more so with Ventus out of commission and Aqua the only one still active besides Medea.

When they reached the throne room, Medea set Ventus down on the center throne while Luna looked around the room a bit, trying to comprehend the nightmare that plagued the land.

"Luna, will you come here, please?"

She turned around, and walked over to Aqua to find that a keyhole had appeared from behind the throne Ventus was set on. Puzzled at this, she turned to her friend.

"What is that, Aqua?" she asked.

"Master Eraqus told me that if anything happened to this place, then I have to lock it away. What you're seeing, Luna, is a keyhole," her friend replied.

"What are you going to do?" Luna asked.

"I'm going to lock this world. Once that is done, this place will be transformed," Aqua replied as she prepared herself with the master's blade.

"Is there any way I can help?"

Aqua remained silent for a moment, until she spoke up again. "There…might be a way you can help. Master Eraqus did mention something about you that nobody else knows right now: though most of your powers consist of darkness, there is one power you have that comes from the light. I heard that, under the right conditions, you can reach through the darkness and find the heart of those you're connected with, and call it until you can bring their light out."

Luna thought about it for a moment before approaching Aqua and holding her hand. "I don't understand what it means, but I'll try to help."

When their hands made contact, a bright light formed from the tip of the blade and shot out towards the keyhole on the throne. A bright light filled the entire room, blinding their eyes until it finally subsided; when it did, they found that the whole room had changed into a pure white chamber with glowing chains and strange patterns. In the center of the chamber, Ventus remained asleep atop a large, white throne of sorts, peacefully resting.

Luna looked around the room a moment until she saw Medea walk over with a perplexed expression on her face.

"What happened just now?" Medea asked as she approached, "One moment everything was glowing to the point of blinding, and the next we're in a room that has so much white it hurts my eyes."

"I think the castle changed," Luna replied with equal bewilderment.

Luna turned and walked over to Ventus, who was still in the same spot they left him. As much as it hurts to leave him in a lonesome place like this, she had a feeling that it was for the best.

To one side of the chair, Aqua came around and gently rubbed Ventus's hair. "I know it's a lonely place, but you'll be safe. Terra, Luna, and I will be back to wake you up before you know it."

Luna approached Aqua, and gave a small tug on her sleeve, wanting to get a good look at her friend one last time. Her blue-haired friend picked her up, and held her high enough to let the child pat Ventus's head.

"Sweet dreams, Ven," Luna said with a sad smile.

Medea patted the boy's leg and added, "You just take it easy, kiddo. We'll be back."

After saying their bittersweet farewells to Ventus, the three ladies left the room together to prepare for departure. But the moment they left the chamber, Medea immediately stopped in her tracks, causing Luna and Aqua to stop and turned toward her.

"What's wrong, Medea?" Aqua asked. "Why did you stop?"

"I was just thinking…It'd be in our best interest to set up a little precaution." Medea replied. "As much as I'd love to think Ven is safe and sound, I don't wanna take chances here. So, I'm thinking we need to set up a guard on the door to our buddy's sleeping room." She held out her hands toward Luna and Aqua. "Luna, Aqua, if you'll come over here?"

Despite their confusion over what the Guardian might be thinking, Luna and Aqua approached Medea to find out what her plans are. Then, the Guardian took both of their hands, focusing her energy to summon two wispy spheres from their palms – a lavender sphere from Luna, and an ocean blue sphere from Aqua – and then took the spheres, and thrust them onto the door, all the while citing an incantation:

_"__Though our sleeping friend now rests alone_

_Upon a great, restful throne,_

_Let now this castle continue to stand its ground_

_And protect him while his loyal friends are not around._

_Like the night, this chamber shall remain an enigma_

_Except to those who bear the familiar stigma_

_At this door, only the ocean and the moon_

_Have the right to behold the undisturbed boon."_

When the Guardian had finished the spell, Luna and Aqua watched as the energies Medea extracted from them formed into a magic seal bearing a blue raindrop and a lavender crescent moon. As soon as she was finished, Medea took a step back and nodded in satisfaction at her work.

"This oughta help out a little bit," she said proudly, "It should protect him."

"What was that you did, Medea?" Aqua asked as they walked out of the place. "I've never seen such a strong power like that."

"It's a little protection spell I placed on the door," Medea replied, "By making use of a little bit of each of your magic, I created a seal that will only allow either you or Luna the right to touch the door. It's the least I could do after all the trouble we went through."

When they emerged outside, they looked back to see the drastic change that had occurred from the outside. The entire castle had twisted and dizzying structures that reached out in the most absurd ways, lined with stained glass windows on certain towers; the whole building was centered in the middle of a barren platform with a path that seems to stretch endlessly to nowhere. All around them, there was naught but darkness, adding to the lonely and desolate environment.

"What a lonely place…" Luna said softly.

"I definitely know what to call this place from now on: Castle Oblivion," Medea noted with a frown, "Since we're the only ones who know what the hell this building's for, everyone else is gonna end up going through a personal oblivion the moment they step inside."

Aqua nodded in agreement. "You're probably right on that, Medea. We're the only ones who know about this place – you, Luna, and me."

_Aqua…Luna…put an end to me._

Both girls jolted a bit when they heard the faint, familiar voice of Terra. Aqua turned to face the pathway, while Luna clung to her friend tightly in fear of what the call meant.

Aqua took a deep breath. "Terra, tell us where to find you."

"Is he in trouble?" Luna asked nervously.

Medea frowned with unease. "I don't like this. You'd better keep on your toes this time around. Besides, I don't wanna think about what's become of Terra."

Knowing that it was the point of no return, Medea retreated into Luna's shadow while the young Shadow Mage and Keyblade Master prepared themselves for a journey to what might be something either dangerous, or something else entirely. Aqua donned her armor and sailed off in her glider while Luna's Teleport Brace formed its barrier once more and soared off, following the path to their last destination.


	21. Chapter 21 - Ch 20: Luna's Breakdown

**I can't believe I did this. I just can't. But, as I said before, Birth by Sleep is the game of tragedy; so, something is bound to happen to a person's original character along with the familiar heroes. However...can you imagine how painful it is for a young child to see something so horrifying that it just breaks their heart on an extreme level?**

**Hope you enjoy without having to exhaust another tissue box.**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames allowed.**

Chapter 20 – Luna's Breakdown

Turns out, as they followed the trail as to where the voice was coming from, they found that Radiant Garden has a flicker of darkness dangerously lurking from within the upcoming world. As they drew closer and closer to that world, Luna began to feel more and more afraid of what could be there.

Aqua noticed this, and pulled closer to Luna, asking, "Luna, are you okay? You look like you could break at any moment."

Luna shook her head. "I'm scared, Aqua. What happened to Big Brother back in the desert place that I didn't know about? I'm scared to find out."

"We're going to be fine, Luna. Just stay close to me, okay?"

Despite Aqua's attempts to reassure her and let her know that she's there for her, Luna still had trouble shaking off the fear and despair growing inside of her. But it wasn't until they landed that they saw the darkness surrounding the environment; there were dark clouds hanging around, apparently surrounding the central square.

Standing in the central square was none other than Terra, but it could be seen that something was not right about him; rather than his light skin, dark brown hair, and serene blue eyes, he bore tan skin with silver hair and yellow eyes. It was Terra, but at the same time it wasn't.

Aqua ran to him, and asked cautiously, "Terra?"

Luna trailed slowly beside Aqua, unsure of what he was doing.

Then, he lowered his head to Aqua's eye level, and raised his hand up to her as if to touch her. But instead, he reached out and tightly grabbed her throat, lifting her up as if he intends to strangle her; a dark aura surrounded and flickered around his body. Aqua struggled for breath as she felt her loss of footing on solid ground. Luna backed away in horror at what she was seeing in front of her.

"Who…am I?" he asked.

Aqua gasped for breath for as she struggled to speak. "Such a terrible…darkness…Fight it. Terra, please, for your sister's sake!"

"Terra…you say?"

Then, suddenly, he let Aqua go, making her drop to the ground and gasp for breath. Terra let out a groan of pain as he held his head, covering his face with his hands in pain. For a moment or so, there was no response; that is, until he brought down his hands, and there was a change in behavior.

"Terra's heart has been extinguished," the deep voice from Terra answered with deadly malice, "smothered by the darkness within him."

He summoned a sinister keyblade that actually had belonged to Xehanort, and swung at Aqua as if to kill her, but she jumped out of the way and safely landed a short distance from the possessed Terra. When she recovered from the attempted assault on her, she stood up and summoned her keyblade once more, ready to fight the person she had once called her friend.

"My name is Master Aqua," she declared, "Now return my friend's heart, or pay the price!" She turned to face Luna. "Luna, you have to get out of here, now."

But Luna was not being responsive; she was shaking violently, her breaths coming out erratically and was repeatedly shaking her head, as if she was seeing a nightmare coming to life. Her eyes were wide with absolute horror, unable to process everything that she was seeing before her young eyes.

"Luna? Luna, what's wrong with you?" Aqua asked with worry growing on her.

"No…" A dark aura began to flicker around her feet. "**No!**" A shadowy pool began growing around her as she clung to her head tightly. "**_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!_**"

With just one piercing scream, numerous Shadow Hands sprouted all around her in an insane frenzy, lashing all around the area.

Aqua, horrified at what she was seeing, cried out, "Luna, NO!"

Unfortunately, Luna couldn't hear her; at that point, her mind was completely shattered, her heart broken by grief and terror. She went on an unstoppable rampage, lashing out against the possessed Terra as well as Aqua. It could be seen that her eyes had been filled with madness and pain, desperate to put a stop to the cause of her sorrow.

"Give him back! Give my brother back!" Luna cried as she staggered around the place. "Give him back!"

"Luna, please stop it! You'll get hurt if you keep it up!" Aqua pleaded fruitlessly, "I beg you, Luna, stop!"

Just when it seemed like there's no way to stop the insanity, shadowy hands emerged out of nowhere and grabbed onto Luna as if to detain her while a hulking dark creature emerged behind the possessed Terra and held him tightly. Stunned at the sight, Aqua turned around to see a dark portal form beside her, and a human woman emerged from the darkness.

The mysterious woman was garbed in a long, form-fitting black dress with a small train at the back, with long black gloves on her arms; attached to her dress was a long, dark blue cloak clasped to twin silver braces on her wrists, and on her head was a headdress sporting a laced veil covering her face. She stopped near the confused Aqua, and gazed deeply at her with azure blue eyes that match closely to Terra's.

"Who are you?" Aqua asked bluntly, "What are you doing here?"

"Please, do not view me wrongly. I am your ally," the woman replied softly, "I sensed a dangerous force here, and I came to help you."

"Please, can you tell me what's wrong with Luna?" Aqua pleaded, "Why wouldn't she listen to me when I call her?"

"She cannot hear you. Luna's mind has been clouded by madness and pain, which is why you see her in this broken state," the woman explained, a tragic knowing tone in her voice, "I came here because I felt her suffering, and I wanted to help her. I am the only one who can now." She paused a moment. "If only I had a way to avenge my boy Terra as well…To think a monster had to rob him of his life…"

"Why?"

The woman gave a small, sad smile. "I am Luna and Terra's mother."

Aqua gasped in shock at this; she couldn't believe that this strange woman – who bears shadowy powers similar to that of Luna – is the birth mother of her youngest, dearest friend and her fellow keyblade wielder. But when she saw the devotion and love in that woman's eyes, she understood why she offered help in this moment.

"Anyway, your priority is to rescue Terra from the darkness. Mine is to rescue my baby from pain's torturous grasp," the woman continued. She turned a moment. "If I was to have a guess, you love Terra…am I wrong?"

Aqua blushed a bit, and lowered her head sadly. "I can't believe I'm saying this…but, yes." She raised her head up again with determination in her eyes. "I have to save Terra…No. I **will** save Terra from the darkness!"

The woman turned away from Aqua, shed a single tear, and whispered bitterly, "My poor son…That fiend will pay for it later…"

For a moment, Aqua was confused at what she meant, but quickly pushed it to the back of her mind to handle more important matters.

With the mysterious woman's assistance, Aqua was able to focus on taking the fight to her possessed friend once he broke free of the dark creature's grasp. She pulled out all the stops to fight for the life of her dearest friend Terra, determined to see that he is returned to both her and his sister Luna. For every strike Terra-Xehanort made to stop the blue-haired master, Aqua made counters against him with twice as much force against him.

Meanwhile, the woman slowly approached the frenzied Luna, blocking all of her Shadow Hands with her Dark Hands, occasionally summoning her shadowy familiars to take the heavier blows in her stead. Her pained eyes couldn't bear to see the madness that the sweet, innocent child was going through, and knew that she had to do something to pull her out of her insanity and help her come to her senses. Once she was close enough, she bent down to Luna's level and held her tenderly for a good long while until she finally spoke with soft words that any good mother would when their child is suffering.

"Shh…shh…it's alright, baby. Mama's right here," she whispered lovingly, "Mama's here, Luna. Don't cry. Crying will not give Terra back to you. Your heart is hurt. If you want to be healed, you have to stop."

At first, Luna struggled against her, fighting to break free. But when she gradually registered the tender, loving voice she was hearing, her frenzy subsided and her hands dropped to her sides.

"Mama…? Mama…is it you?" she choked.

"Yes, baby…It's your mother. Mama's here to help you," her mother replied softly.

Luna's hazel-green eyes dulled as she weakly whispered, "…I don't see anything…"

Unable to take the pain any longer, Luna lost consciousness and collapsed into the woman's tender arms; then, the woman slowly got up and held the child protectively close to her, hoping to deliver her away from the area to safety. But just as she was about to escape from the battlefield as quickly as she can, she saw a shadowy monstrosity closing in on her, as if to try and cut her off. But luckily, Aqua managed to rush in and save her life before that could happen.

"Leave them alone! You're not dragging them into this!" Aqua demanded, obviously directing this to the opponent.

The woman looked over from where Aqua had stepped in, and it quickly became clear that the villain had stepped up the danger by summoning forth a repulsive, hulking monster that is as terrifying as it is dangerous (**A/N: Y'know, now that I think about it, doesn't anyone else get the impression that the Guardian looks like it could've been made by Dr. Frankenstein**?).

But despite the interference, nobody but her noticed that his attention at the moment wasn't directed towards the keyblade master, but towards the woman and child hiding right behind her. Unbeknownst to the fighter and the spectators, his gold eyes gleamed in anticipation with a smirk of triumph, as though he had finally found what he had been looking for all this time and no one knew about it.

"Noir…You arrived…" his voice let out a hint of desire, but not in the most pleasant way.

Aqua turned to the very person in question, confused and startled at the unfamiliar name that she never heard of until now. But the woman only gave a face of disgust at the unsightly mockery of the Terra that was once known by the few who did, standing up in anger at the fiend that she had come to loathe most.

"You monster…How dare you stand there and mock the beautiful and proud visage of my own son!" she hissed bitterly, "How dare you speak to me with such venom, when you know you've destroyed one of the few things I have treasured in my life! A dear friend is already lost, and now you had to enter my life and rob my son's life… But I swear that you will NOT have my daughter's life!"

That certainly did provoke the ire of the villain as he moved in to strike against the woman who had so strongly called him out in an extreme way; but before any harm could come directly at them; a Dark Hand emerged from the woman's shadow and formed a keyblade – one that didn't seem familiar to Aqua in any way – in defense of the people that were being targeted for serious harm. As unfamiliar as it was to the blue-haired warrior, there was an indication of awareness coming from him as he pulled back and retreated to the protection of his guardian.

But the last thing he said was a mystery in it of itself. "…Even in death, you still try to protect her, don't you?"

Not wanting another life to be threatened by the likes of the man before their eyes, Aqua quickly back into her defensive position with the intent to keep on fighting until she can't do it anymore.

"I'll fight him off!" Aqua vowed, "Please, take Luna someplace safe until you can find help for her." She turned to the unconscious Luna with a sad look. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you, Luna. I hope you find someone who can help you heal your pain."

The woman nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Aqua. I will not forget your selflessness."

The woman hurried away from the central square as fast as her legs could carry her until she had finally reached the doors of the castle, the only place she could think of for refuge. The moment she got there, though, she was stopped by the point of a spear, almost threatening to bring her down if she moved any closer.

"Who are you? What business do you have at the castle?"

The woman turned to face the wielder of the spear, namely a man with a ponytail and a soldier's uniform.

"Please, stand aside, Dilan," the woman commanded. "I need to see Ansem the Wise. My daughter is ill, and I have no one else to turn to. I ask you to let me in."

But he would not relent. "No one is permitted entry, not for any reason. You'd best leave now before I force you to…"

"Stand down, Dilan. Can't you recognize a desperate woman in need of help?" an elderly voice interrupted sternly.

The woman looked the other way to see an older man in a lab coat walk over to her casually. She recognized the man with the long, platinum blond hair as he came closer to her, and took a deep breath.

"Your timing is impeccable, Even," the woman sighed, "Will you let me inside? I need to see Ansem right away. My daughter is ailing terribly, and I cannot do anything to aid her any further."

"I'm quite sure he'd be glad to assist you, but he seems to be rather busy, what with the crisis outside right now," Even replied with intrigue, "But if you want, you can come inside with me and we can discuss your child's conditions. Surely there's nothing Ansem can't do for an old friend."

As the woman was led inside, she turned to make one last look in the direction of the central square. For a moment, she sensed the clashing auras of light and dark at odds with one another; but then, within mere seconds, she could've sworn that she sensed a flicker of light in the midst of the dank darkness she had noticed previously. She couldn't tell whose it was or confirm if it was Terra's; all she knew was that in the short span of the clash she had detected, something had happened that she'll never be able to know now. It made her worry for the young lady who was determined to save someone precious to her.

Was there a victory? Was there a defeat? What happened to them back in the square?

But then, she sensed a powerful silence within the area; though the oppression of the great dark aura was gone, she could've sworn that there was still a small flicker somewhere. Fearing what that could possibly mean, she turned away and hurried into the shelter she planned to settle her broken daughter in.


	22. Chapter 22 - Epilogue: The Patient

**Here it is: the conclusion to the story of Broken Hearts! Those of you who have been following and/or favorite my story, I really hope you've enjoyed the story. Believe me, I wanted to make this good, especially because I wanted to see if I could make an enjoyable series. Those of you who have been reviewing my work - creatorX33, Antex-The Legendary Zoroark, Spirit of Writing, Gracekim1, and others who've left their words - thank you very much for letting me know how you love it, and for the occasional pleas on updates.**

**Now, just to give you a heads up: I'm going to post the next of the Hearts Series stories called Scattered Hearts sometime next week, so keep an eye out for it! And somewhere down the line, I might post up a whole different fanfic...probably involving White Knight Chronicles (but it needs ironing out).**

**Anyways, hope you like and see you soon!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for my OCs.**

**Read, review, but no flames.**

Epilogue – The Patient

As she waited patiently inside the study, holding her still unconscious child in her arms, she carefully thought about what would be best to keep her daughter safe from the fiend that had corrupted the body of Terra. She knew that she had to know who she can trust in these trying days; if her daughter is to have a chance to recover from her grief, she needs someone to watch over her and help her, to do what she could not. She still feared for her life, and as much as she wanted to witness her child's recovery, she didn't want to risk exposing her child to more danger than she already experienced.

She heard the door open, and turned around to see an older man enter the room with a young boy following behind him. The man had light yellow, shoulder length hair with a moustache and goatee; he was dressed in a lab coat over casual clothes, and wore a red scarf around his neck. The young boy had short, pale gray-blue hair, and wore a smaller lab coat over a V-neck shirt and pants.

"Ansem, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Indeed it has, Noir," Ansem replied with a friendly smile, "Even informed me that you came here in need of my help. Whatever happened that made you come back?"

Carefully, she shifted her arms to show Ansem her ailing child, allowing him to see the broken Luna. When he took notice of her pale skin and sickly posture, Ansem's brows furrowed into a troubled frown, and he hurried over to examine the child's conditions.

"My daughter has fallen ill from grief and despair. Her mind and heart have been badly broken," Noir explained, "far enough that I cannot offer any help to her. I was able to save her from falling into insanity, but I can do no more for her. I hoped that, perhaps, you could help my child recover from her grief. Can I trust you with her care until you can find a way to heal her?"

Ansem looked up at her, and gave her a reassuring smile. "Noir, my dear friend, you're asking quite a lot from me. However, knowing that you would do anything to help your daughter, I'd be glad to take her in. I have an infirmary I can shelter her in. From there, I will be able to monitor her conditions and find out what I can do to support her. Tell me what you want me to do, and I will see that your requests are executed right away."

Noir smiled a bit. "Thank you. I am pleased that you have the heart to help a person in need despite yourself." Then, her face became intensely serious. "But, for my child's safety, I must establish three terms that must be followed while she's in your care: One…when you intend to gather information from her, know your limits; she might not be willing to answer all of your questions, regardless of your curiosity. Two…have someone you can trust the most monitor her whenever you are not available; I'd rather not let a complete stranger approach her except anybody you know within this castle. Three…Braig and your new apprentice – the one you call Xehanort – must never be permitted to see her at all costs; you must especially follow the third, because I'm sure that their presence would trigger negative emotions from her while she rests in the infirmary."

Although he was very stunned to hear these strict terms coming from her, he knew from her cold, undaunted gaze that she really meant it. He took in a deep breath, and nodded in reluctant agreement.

"I can see that I won't be able to change your mind. I'll do everything in my power to ensure these terms are met," he promised as Noir carefully gave Luna to him, "If Xehanort and Braig are forbidden to see her, then I will make sure they know that. As for finding trustworthy people to watch over her, I'll see to it personally."

She nodded in approval. "Thank you again, my friend. Now, if you'll pardon my hastiness, I have to leave. I would rather not risk being out in the open for too long." She conjured a dark portal in front of her. "Farewell, Ansem. Be safe."

Without another word, she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Ansem and the castle behind once more.

Moments after she left, Ansem felt a stirring in his arms, and looked down to see that Luna had just started to wake. She opened her eyes a little bit, and looked up with a confused face; this let him know that she was meeting the face of a stranger. The first thing he might need to do is let her know that he means well with her.

"Hello there, little one." He said gently. "My name is Ansem. I'm going to help you."


	23. Chapter 23 - Epilogue 2: One Small Favor

**Oh, jeez! HOW could I overlook something as significant as THIS, of ALL THINGS?! Sorry, sorry, that bothered me throughout the afternoon to the evening. **

**All that aside, I figured that I have to give a little credit to the kid who had a big heart, or else I'll completely disgrace myself as a Kingdom Hearts lover. And besides (without spoiling too much), Sora will be one of the key supporters for Luna down the line.**

**That being said, I still give my thanks to all those who've left me some wonderful reviews and expressed their love for the start of the Hearts Series and - this is directed to Spirit of Writing - for actually giving me a constructive review (don't worry, I'll be expanding characters and adding FF characters in different places somewhere down the line). Thousands of thanks and brownie points to all of you!**

**I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.**

**Read, review, no flaming allowed here.**

Epilogue 2: One Small Favor

Under the cover of a starry night, Sora and Riku were gazing at the sky by the mainland shore together, since they had nothing else to do before having to return home.

That is, until Riku sat up and said, "Hey, I'm gonna head back."

Sora sat up and agreed, "Yeah. Me, too."

The two boys stood up and began to walk back home together. But as they were doing it, though, Riku turned and noticed that Sora – for some strange reason – was letting a tear out of his eye. It was very out of place, considering how he's normally a cheerful kid on a daily basis, and it made the silver-haired boy worried about what was the matter with his friend.

"Sora, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

His friend turned to him in confusion, not understanding what he was saying, so he had to point out to Sora that he was crying. The instant Sora touched his cheek, he was indeed startled by the fact that he was crying; that was truly odd…why was he?  
"That's weird," Sora answered uncertainly as he held his hand to his chest, "It's like something's squeezing me inside."

Riku nodded in understanding. "Somebody up there must be sad."

"Up where?"

"They say every world is connected by one big sky. So maybe there's somebody up there in all those worlds who's really hurting," Riku replied, "and they're waiting for you to help them."

Just hearing someone might be in trouble was saddening for Sora. "Well, gee, do you think there's something I could do?"

Riku crossed his arms and thought about it for a moment, before a little idea came up in his head.

"Maybe they just need you to open your heart and listen," he suggested.

"I dunno, Riku. You say some weird stuff sometimes, but I'll try it," Sora answered.

At that moment, Sora looked towards the sky very briefly, before he closed his eyes and concentrated…

* * *

Inside the white chamber where he was kept safe, Ventus remained asleep and undisturbed, until the voice of a little boy could be heard.

"Hey…Can you hear me?"

* * *

When young Sora opened his eyes, he found himself on a platform with an oceanic color and images that related to the islands where's he lived since birth. He looked around in wonder, until he saw a little ball of light coming towards him.

"Hey. Can you hear me?" he called.

"I heard your voice. It cut through the darkness around me," Ven's voice spoke, "All alone; I followed the sound into a sea of light, and found myself here, with you." The ball of light floated gently down into Sora's cupped hands and hovered between them. "You gave me something back when I needed it most: a second chance."

"I did?" Sora asked.

"But…now I have to go back to sleep again," Ven's voice said sadly.

Sora's face saddened when he heard this. "Are you sad?"

"Would you mind if I stayed here, with you?"

"Sure, if it'll make you feel better," Sora replied with a soft smile.

"Thank you." There was a momentary pause. "Say, maybe you could do me…one small favor?"

"What kind of favor?" the boy asked with curiosity.

"I have a friend…her name is Luna, and I promised I'd look after her. Unfortunately, I cannot do that now, and she's alone. I fear that she may be in pain. Should you meet her, and should she feel hurt, will you please take care of her? She needs someone who can support her…help her keep on standing…and to never let anything make her sad. Can you do that?"

Sora smiled, and nodded. "Okay. Once I see her, I'll take good of her."

"Again, thank you."

Gently, Sora moved his hands with the ball of light as it entered his body, giving off a rather warm, soothing feeling. Just knowing that the person who was hurt is safe and feels much better is good enough for him.

* * *

Sora opened his eyes again, and found himself to feel quite relieved; he was sure that he did something very kind to that someone who needed help, and was glad to know that. He turned back to Riku with a smile on his face.

"Ya know…I think it might've worked," he said.

"Yeah," his friend agreed.

They turned to give one last look towards the sky before walking away from the shore. As they were doing that, Sora couldn't help but wonder if that person he helped knew the little girl he and his friend met before she disappeared to parts unknown. If that was the case, and if she was truly hurt and alone, he certainly hoped that there's something he and his friend could do to help like he did earlier.

_"__If Luna is really lonely, then Riku and I can look after her,"_ Sora thought, _"Besides, we're her friends now. She'll need a lot of friends."_


End file.
